‘Alien: Romulus’: Cailee Spaney Says She Won’t Try & Replicate Ripley & Calls Film “Properly Scary Horror”

This August will finally see the return of the “Alien” franchise with Fede Álvarez’s “Alien: Romulus.” Taking place between the events of the first two movies, last week’s ‘Romulus’ teaser trailer helped build some anticipation as the new installment takes place on a space station (an obvious inspiration from the video game “Alien: Isolation”). Actresses in the past, such as Noomi Rapace in “Prometheus” and Katherine Waterston in “Alien: Covenant,” have been compared to Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley, but new ‘Romulus’ star Cailee Spaeny tells Total Film she has big shoes to fill and won’t try replicating that character. 

“I did everything that I could to bring that character to life. Watching Sigourney play that role—she’s part of the changing of the game that those films did,” Spaeny said. “I could never be her. But I injected whatever I have in me into that character, and tried to make it three-dimensional—as three-dimensional as possible. So I hope that that’s there, and it comes alive.”

READ MORE: ‘Alien: Romulus’: Fede Álvarez Says ‘Aliens’ Director James Cameron “Loves It” & Connects To Other Movies

Spaeny went on to praise the movie’s use of practical VFX, seemingly avoiding too much CGI.

“We used practical effects. We had the same people who worked on ‘Aliens.’ They came back. They were there making the xenomorph,” she explained. “This is a creature that they have so much love for. We had puppeteers working on the face-hugger. So to see that – it all felt so alive.”

“I had to turn off my ‘nerding out’ brain, because I was just like, ‘Wow, it’s beautiful, Ooh, you put the Giger skull…’ I had to turn that off,” she continued. “But it was properly scary. We set it between the first movie and the second. We were talking about, ‘How could this be a child of the two?’ So we have those heightened moments, but then proper horror.”

Weaver, who played Ellen Ripley in four feature films, landed a Best Actress Oscar nomination in 1987 for “Aliens.” The latter recognition was a massive win for genre work and a precursor to James Cameron’s future Oscar wins with “Titanic” and “Avatar.” There had been some plans to revive Ripley with Neill Blomkamp’s unmade attempt at “Alien 5” and a second incarnation from a script penned by franchise producers/screenwriters Walter Hill and the late Dave Giler, but neither of them came to pass.

In the new film, Spaney plays a new scientist named Rain Carradine in “Romulus,” which suggests that she could be closer to Rapace’s Dr. Elizabeth Shaw from “Prometheus” or a hybrid of existing characters. The exciting element of ”Romulus” is that it is not a reboot and leaves room for exploring more stories without impacting the canon.

“Alien: Romulus” will attempt to scare audiences again when it hits theaters on August 16. You can watch that recent trailer below.