While 2012’s Alien prequel Prometheus was divisive upon release, now is the perfect time to revisit the movie thanks to its recent follow-up. The ending of 2024’s Alien: Romulus was tense, scary, and unpredictable, something that the franchise has needed for some time. The Alien movies got increasingly ambitious when it came to lore and world-building as they continued, but the sequels lost some of the simple monster movie pleasures found in Alien and Aliens. Fortunately, Alien: Romulus not only brought these back but also kept the franchise’s canon clear in the process.
Given how confusing Prometheus’ Alien backstory was at times, I was surprised that Alien: Romulus could provide such a clear thoroughline between the prequel and Scott’s original Alien. Technically, Alien: Romulus takes place between Alien and Aliens, but the reboot’s plot incorporated elements of the franchise’s lore that were first introduced by Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. As a result, Alien: Romulus made Prometheus essential to the franchise where the prequel had previously stood out as an anomaly in canon.
Prometheus Is Now Essential To The Alien Franchise After Alien: Romulus
Director Fede Alvarez’s Alien Reboot Integrated Scott’s Prequel Into The Franchise
In Alien: Romulus, the android Rook reveals that Prometheus’ infamous Black Goo was used by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation to engineer superhuman astronauts. These experiments failed, inadvertently creating monstrosities like the movie’s grotesque Offspring. However, while the endeavor might not have worked out for the villainous corporation, Alien: Romulus‘ plot did manage to link up Prometheus and Alien in a way that made sense within the world of the series.
Introducing Prometheus’s lore into Alien Romulus allowed Alvarez to clarify the prequel’s connection to the original movies.
Before Alien: Romulus, various plot strands from Prometheus seemingly made little sense. In Alien, it was unclear whether the Weyland-Yutani Corporation knew anything about the Xenomorph and its life cycle, and the purpose of the Black Goo wasn’t clear. Alien: Covenant saw Michael Fᴀssbender’s villainous android David begin experimenting on Xenomorphs, but the success or failure of these attempts was never addressed. Introducing Prometheus’s lore into Alien Romulus allowed Alvarez to clarify the prequel’s connection to the original movies in the series, making Scott’s movie a necessary re-watch.
Prometheus Has Aged Surprisingly Well For A Movie That Was So Divisive
Prometheus Is Overly Ambitious But Undeniably Intriguing
I remember how divisive Prometheus was upon its original release, and it is still striking to see just how much the prequel leaves unexplained despite its lengthy runtime. However, upon re-watching Scott’s blockbuster, I was struck by how well it holds up. Prometheus is a fun standalone sci-fi movie with an ambitious, complex story and a lot of memorably nasty deaths. It isn’t entirely satisfying as an addition to the Alien mythos but, when viewed as a self-contained story, the sci-fi horror movie is unexpectedly effective.
The starry cast remains as impressive as ever, and some of the deaths are genuinely unexpected. Big-name stars die before relatively unknown actors, fostering an atmosphere where it feels like no one is safe. Admittedly, Prometheus leaves a lot unexplained and this may stray away from being an enjoyable enigma and into feeling like an outright annoying deflection for viewers who want a more straightforward plot. However, Prometheus still remains a solid addition to the Alien series despite the much-discussed flaws of Scott’s 2012 prequel.
