Romulus’ surprise character return secretly undermines the original film’s best twist

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Alien: RomulusAlien: Romulus subverted audience expectations by bringing back a familiar face from the original film. But as shocking as the character’s return in the film was – 45 years after his previous franchise appearance – his role also ruined one of them ForeignerThe most effective plot twists. The 1979 film was made before audiences were familiar with acid blood, facehuggers and flesh-eating xenomorphs, and contained several shocking scenes. While the iconic chestburster has entered filmmaking folklore, the film’s actual best twist arguably had much greater narrative significance.

ForeignerThe genius of the film was the transplanting of haunted house motifs into space. A limited number of characters encountered something completely incomprehensible and terrible and slowly succumbed to its power before one survivor emerged victorious. It’s a formula that’s been repeated time and time again in the horror genre. However, within this setup applies The film ratcheted up the tension by refusing to adhere to narrative conventionsby repeatedly pulling the ground out from under the viewer’s feet. One of these twists involved Ian Holm’s character Ash – a truly unexpected moment that was unfortunately undermined Alien: Romulus.

Ian Holm’s Rook role undermines the revelation that Ash is a robot in Alien

Other “Ian Holm robots” make no sense in the alien universe

Despite the actor’s death in 2020 Alien: Romulus recreated Ian Holm’s likeness with the character of Rook. His appearance was one of many effective callbacks and Easter eggs associated with the original Foreigner film and immediately established a connection between two central robot characters in the story. In ForeignerHolm played the Nostromo’s science officer, Ash. Although it seemed like they were on the same side as the crew, it eventually turned out to be the case Ash was actually a synthetic and was tasked with bringing the alien creature back so Weyland-Yutani could study it. This revelation essentially made him the film’s second villain.

From a story perspective: Foreigner‘s Ash twist was extremely effective. Suddenly, both the characters and the audience were unable to trust anyone, which only increased the tension and added to the atmosphere of fear and distrust. And yet, with his Rook revelation, Alien: Romulus has destroyed the power of that moment in one fell swoop. This is what makes the Ash twist so effective none of them ForeignerThe characters had an inkling that he might be a robot – a situation illustrated by Parker’s astonished remarks: “Ash is a damn robot!“

It’s impossible to believe that no one on the Nostromo’s crew would recognize Ash, considering how common his doppelgangers are.

However, the crew’s surprise is much harder to believe when it turns out that the Foreigner The universe is actually full of plastics that look exactly like Ash. Rook’s existence suggests that Ash is not a unique model commissioned for the Nostromo Project. Instead, He is one of many identical robots associated with Weyland-Yutani spread throughout the universe. It’s impossible to believe that no one on the Nostromo’s crew would recognize Ash, considering how common his doppelgangers are. As a result, Alien: Romulus inadvertently jeopardized one of the franchise’s most effective twists.

The Ash Robot twist is one of the franchise’s most shocking moments

It works on multiple levels

There are several reasons for this Foreigner‘s Ash reveal is so successful. Aside from building the atmosphere and contributing to the film’s unbearably tense climax, It helps establish one of the key themes in the franchise – Corporate greed. It is Ash who for the first time lays out the Company’s role and the extent of the Nostromo’s predicament, explaining exactly what they are dealing with. His talk about the “perfect organism” and his expression of “Sympathies“ for the surviving crew is also scary and instantly makes him an iconic movie villain.

But beyond that, it’s also important to consider the context in which Ash’s true identity was revealed. At this point in the original film ForeignerThe world was still in its infancy. Viewers didn’t even know that lifelike robots were part of the story. This makes the revelation of Ash’s true form confusing and disturbing. The slow trickle of white liquid down his forehead – like everything else – has no explanation at first Foreigneris the most effective scare – making the twist doubly shocking. For Alien: Romulus Having this moment jeopardized is a real disappointment as it calls authenticity into question Foreigneris the broader structure of the world.

Alien: Romulus should have brought back another franchise robot character

They would have made perfect sense

With the decision to bring Holm back, Alien: Romulus suggested that ForeignerAsh’s characters had no good reason to be surprised when Ash turned out to be a robot. However, while this clearly undermines the original story, there was a way for the 2024 sequel to bring back a beloved old robot character without compromising a core part of the narrative. Specifically, the film could have reintroduced Lance Henriksen.

In AliensHenriksen challenged audience expectations by proving that not all “artificial people“were inherently bad. As Bishop, he heroically saves Ripley and Newt from LV-426who skillfully pilots the dropship to save her from the alien queen – a stark contrast to Ash. However, this was Henriksen’s most memorable film Foreigner His long-standing presence in the franchise actually makes him the perfect candidate for a comeback.

Henriksen returned to the series Alien 3both as a bishop and as another figure, variously referred to as “Bishop II” or “Michael Bishop Weyland“. In addition, Henriksen also appeared in Alien vs Predator as the original Charles Weyland, founder of the company. Given that he has already appeared in several installments of the saga and there is a clear precedent for him playing several different characters, Henriksen’s presence could have had the same impact as Holm’s without detracting from the story. During Holms Alien: Romulus The appearance was a surprise, raising questions that Henriksen could have avoided.