Alien: Romulus

director Fede Alvarez explains how Ellen Ripley’s hidden return in the sequel impacts franchise canon. Hitting theaters last summer, the seventh installment in the Alien franchise, which takes place between the first two movies, follows a young crew as they encounter a Xenomorph while exploring a derelict space station. Ripley actor Sigourney Weaver doesn’t make an actual appearance as part of the Alien: Romulus cast, but her escape pod, the Narcissus, can be seen twice in the film in the background of different sH๏τs.

During a recent interview with Collider, Alvarez goes more in depth into the hidden Ripley Easter egg in Alien: Romulus, explaining how her inclusion doesn’t mess with existing franchise canon. According to Alvarez, Ripley has an entire storyline on the Renaissance space station that audiences don’t see, culminating with her escaping in the Narcissus before the station is destroyed. Her eventual appearance in Aliens isn’t affected by this sojourn, as she’s lost for roughly 40 years after the events of Alien. Check out Alvarez’s explanation below:

My logic was at some point if Weyland-Yutani could find the Xenomorph floating around the debris of the Nostromo, to find the Narcissus, the shuttle that Ripley escaped in, is the easiest part. It’s a lifeboat; it has a beacon. Yeah, you’ll find her, right? It will be a place to figure out the research of what’s going on. You should go get her. So I’m sure they did, right? So I was like, “At some point, the Narcissus has to be inside the Renaissance station somewhere.”

Not only that, I wanted to give an explanation of why Ripley got lost 40 years between [Alien and Aliens]. She was supposed to go to Earth and be in stasis for decades until she gets picked up in Aliens, so I was like, “Why did that happen?’ So I thought, “Because they picked her up.” So, in my mind, there’s a whole movie that happens in parallel to this one where the Narcissus is on board, and Ripley gets out of the station, does her whole f*cking movie inside the thing, calls him Xenomorph.

I think a lot of the s—t that happens, some of the mayhem that happens in the movie, might have been Ripley getting ahead before the kids. It’s a mᴀssive station, right? It’s a mᴀssive station. You get to see, like, probably 3% of the corridors that that station has. When you see them, think about the scale. So there’s plenty of room for Ripley to be around doing her thing, and then when she realized the whole thing was going to blow up, she had to get back to the Narcissus and get the f*ck out of there.

So, if you watch, if you look closely, you’ll see the Narcissus twice in the movie in the background in a couple of sections where they walk by it, and you can see it right there on the wall. Then, of course, she cannot die, so in the big explosion at the end when the station is crashing on the rings, you have to show the Narcissus leaving.

I asked these guys, “Can you give me a Narcissus there?” And they were like, “We’re on it!” And they were all excited about it. So you can tell me that story from your side, but the sH๏τ is in the movie. As the Corbelan is escaping, you can see the Narcissus with Ripley inside just flying out of there.

What Ripley’s Return Means For Alien: Romulus’ Canon Status

How The Narcissus Returns Explained

1979’s Alien ends with Ripley seemingly killing the Xenomorph by shooting it with a grappling hook gun, pushing it out of her lifeboat’s airlock and into space. Alien: Romulus then begins with a new ship exploring the wreckage of the Nostromo, the ship from the first movie, and finding this Xenomorph still alive. Alvarez’s explanation for Ripley being involved in Romulus is essentially that another ship being in the vicinity of the Nostromo wreckage means they wouldn’t be likely to miss her escape pod.

While the events of Romulus obviously aren’t acknowledged or discussed in Aliens (1986), the inclusion of the Narcissus and, by extension, Ripley, in the new film doesn’t really mess with the Alien franchise’s timeline in any significant way. The events between the first two installments, after all, are never explained with any depth in any of the movies, at least not to a degree that would prevent Alvarez from including the Narcissus.

Our Take On Ripley’s Alien: Romulus Return

Why It’s An Effective Franchise Easter Egg

Alien: Romulus reviews were generally positive from critics, but one common complaint is that the film ultimately feels too much like a greatest hits album of what has been featured in the franchise before. Alvarez clearly has a great deal of reverence and respect for the other films in the franchise, the first two especially, and this shows in Romulus. It would’ve been easy to make Ripley’s involvement in the film more substantial given the overlap of the two stories, but it’s for the best that the Narcissus’ inclusion is in two blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos.

By inferring Ripley’s adventures aboard the Renaissance instead of showing them, Alvarez makes the Narcissus’ inclusion work as a subtle Easter egg that only franchise die-hards will notice (or care about). It’s not a crucial part of the story, but it’s fun if you spot it. While parts of Alien: Romulus are sure to remain divisive for some viewers, the Narcissus appearing briefly in the background of two sH๏τs doesn’t seem likely to be among these moments.

Source: Collider