1 Trailer Detail Suggests Alien: Romulus Is Finally Revisiting The Original Alien Planet After 38 Years

The Alien: Romulus teaser trailer provided little concrete information about the 2024 movie’s story, but one important detail suggests that – for the first time since Aliens – the series will be returning to the planet where it all began. Although several Alien movies have followed the same premise of arrival on an unknown world before disaster strikes, the majority of the franchise’s stories have taken place away from Alien‘s LV-426. However, given its central position in the saga’s story, and ongoing mysteries about the planet itself, it makes perfect sense for Romulus to revisit the harsh alien world.

It’s clear from the Alien: Romulus trailer that much of the movie’s action will take place on board a new ship. An attack by updated xenomorph facehuggers, for instance, seems to be set within a vessel’s medical bay – echoing the creature’s iconic first appearance in Ridley Scott’s 1979 original. However, it is details from the outside of the ship that provide the biggest clues as to the content of the story – with one particular feature pointing towards an LV-426 return.

Alien: Romulus’ Planet Rings Connect It To Alien’s LV-426

Within the first few seconds of Alien: Romulus‘ teaser trailer, a ship is shown flying past a giant ringed planet. This mirrors the opening moments of the original Alien, in which the movie’s title is slowly revealed over a yellow celestial body also surrounded by rings. Although not identified in the movies, supplementary material has since identified the planet as Calpamos – a gas giant of which LV-426 is one of three separate moons. The fact that Alien: Romulus is returning to a ringed world suggests that it will share a setting with the first Alien film, and that LV-426 is making a much-needed comeback.

Although Calpamos is not mentioned in any Alien movie, the planet has since become part of the saga’s story due to its inclusion in other supplementary media. The term appears in the Aliens: Colonial Marines Collector’s Edition as well as in the novel Alien: River of Pain – a story that reveals the fate of the Hadley’s Hope colony before the arrival of the Marines in Aliens. While there are doubtless other planets that possess similar rings in the Alien universe, the fact that they feature so prominently in the Romulus trailer suggests that a clear connection is being made between Álvarez’s movie and its predecessors.

Alien: Romulus Going Back To LV-426 Makes Sense For The Movie’s Story

If Alien: Romulus really is going back to LV-426, the move would make perfect sense for the film’s setup. Given that Romulus is set between Alien and Aliens in the overall timeline, the movie will still need to address how the xenomorph threat makes it on board the new ship. At this point in the chronology, ignoring Ridley Scott’s prequels, aliens have only been found on LV-426 – with the events of Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection far off in the future. It therefore follows that heading back to LV-426 is the most believable way for the new crew to have their own alien encounter, without introducing too much complex additional lore.

Revisiting LV-426 is also a great way for Alien: Romulus to return the series to its celebrated roots. While subsequent movies have brought interesting new ideas to the franchise, none have surpassed Alien and Aliens in terms of quality or effective world-building. By revisiting the same setting that helped make these movies so great, Alien: Romulus makes its own setup more straightforward. Instead of bringing a whole new world to life, the movie can reap the benefits of nostalgia – using audience familiarity with LV-426 to launch straight into the action. After a series of convoluted franchise additions, Romulus can tell a more streamlined story.

Alien: Romulus’ LV-426 Setting Can Fix A Major Prequel Mistake

Part of the problem with Ridley Scott’s Alien prequels is that they failed to answer any of the questions they originally set out to solve. In fact, in many cases, they only made the original mystery more complicated. This was especially true as far as the original Engineer ship – seen in both Alien and Prometheus – was concerned. Even though Prometheus revealed who made the vessel and who the mysterious space jockey was, there was no clear answer as to how the original ship ended up on LV-426 in the first place.

Despite similarities, Prometheus is not set on LV-426 – instead taking place on the adjacent world of LV-223. Despite expanding the Alien series setting, the decision to use LV-223 created more questions than answers, many of which can only be solved by a deep dive into supplementary material separate to the film series. Understandably, this caused a great deal of confusion among the fanbase. Alien: Romulus using LV-426 again can avoid a repeat of this situation, keeping the film focused on the horror of the xenomorph menace rather than contradictory aspects of Alien‘s wider story.