New Alien Movie’s Huge Cast Change Means Disney Is Finally Fixing A 31-Year-Old Mistake

Ridley Scott’s Alien is one of the best science-fiction movies ever created ― but the series missed the chance to explore an interesting storyline, and Disney’s upcoming addition to the franchise, Alien: Romulus, has the chance to fix this. Beginning with the 1979 Freudian terror-fueled Alien, the horror-thriller franchise went on to make a big blunder. The new movie, the first in the series since Covenant, looks set to fix this mistake. One detail about director Fede Álvarez’s new standalone film is particularly promising for fans that feel wronged by the decades-old controversial choice.

Disney’s upcoming Alien movie already shows promise by being a standalone flick in a fresh setting, which means it can leave some of the complicated baggage of Resurrection and the Prometheus movies behind. Alien: Romulus takes place in what is described as a “distant world,” which could mean a return to Alien‘s atmosphere of claustrophobia and dread that made it so iconic before ever more complicated alien lifecycles and lore began to muddle things. One problem, though, comes from fairly early on ― 1992 David Fincher’s particularly bleak installment Alien 3 ― and Alien: Romulus looks set to correct course 31 years later.

Disney’s Alien’s Young Cast Can Fix Alien 3’s Newt Mistake

The creators of Alien: Romulus told Variety that the new movie will focus on “a group of young people on a distant world” who “find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.” Pacific Rim Uprising star Cailee Spaeny is the Alien 7 cast’s lead at only 25, and the rest of the main actors are similarly young. This is a big change of direction; Alien has notably not featured any particularly young characters since Aliens’s Newt (Carrie Henn). Newt, an orphaned girl stuck on the Xenomorph-infested station, is a beloved and central part of James Cameron’s action sequel, bringing out Ripley’s maternal side.

Ripley rescuing Newt in Aliens — and the last shot of her looking fondly at the girl before going into cryosleep — turned from poignant to tragic, though, when Newt died off-screen in Alien 3. The choice to kill Newt in such an unceremonious way not only made Ripley and Bishop’s efforts in Aliens come to nothing, but it meant filmmakers missed a huge opportunity to have a new, younger protagonist take the helm. Revisiting this opportunity to have a young character have a coming-of-age story amid the dystopian world of Alien means that Alien 7 can in some ways do justice to Newt and her never-realized character arc.

Alien’s Missing Youth Was A Major Franchise Problem

Not only did Alien 3 end the chance for Newt to have an interesting character arc, but no more kids or teenagers appeared in the franchise after. This lack of age diversity is a problem. In Aliens, the horror element is ramped up by including a child’s perspective of the already-nightmarish Xenomorphs. Newt brought a wonder and a sense of adventure to the story, too, as she softened Ripley’s steely manner. Aliens has a reputation for being a lot more fun than the tense Alien, and Newt’s character is a big part of that. Taking a different approach with a younger cast is what Alien: Romulus needs.