Filming has officially begun on Fede Álvarez’s Alien project and the Evil Dead remake maestro has landed the rest of his would-be victims for the Xenomorphs to tear into. Previously, Cailee Spaeny was tapped to lead the ninth installment of the long-running sci-fi franchise, but now she’ll have David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu joining her.
Progress on Álvarez’s Alien flick has been kept tightly under wraps as work continued on the project, though things are likely to get a bit more public and a lot faster now that cameras are officially rolling. Plot details are also scarce, with only a very vague description of the plot of the film. In the film, which has previously gone under the working title Alien: Romulus, a group of young people find themselves facing down the most horrifying life forms in the known universe, presumably the Xenomorphs, on a foreign planet. It represents a bit of a departure from the more adult, militaristic settings of the previous films, instead seemingly putting the focus on the less-experienced, younger survivors as they try to fend off the Xenomorphs and their vicious facehuggers.
To fit with the premise, the cast brought on board is full of fresh faces to complement Spaeny. Jonsson recently enjoyed a breakout for his role in Industry and now has Rye Lane coming up later this month while Renaux has enjoyed a bit of a recent breakout of his own with The Greatest Beer Run Ever, Catherine Called Birdy, Morbius, and, most recently, Season 2 of Netflix’s Shadow and Bone. Merced’s star has been on the rise for some time now, boasting turns in Transformers: The Last Knight and Dora: The Lost City of Gold, and Rosaline. Fearn, like Renaux, also started receiving more attention in 2022 with The Batman and Aftersun both on his resume. Wu stands out as the newcomer of the group with only one acting role to her name in the short Closing Doors. She has a bit more experience in other filmmaking roles, however, executive producing the TV movie Away From Home.
