What does Alien: Romulus' title mean? Significance explained

Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the Alien franchise, that had its global release on August 16, 2024 by 20th Century Studios. The movie is an interquel in the time period between Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986). Alien: Romulus is directed by the master horror filmmaker, Fede Álvarez, who is known for his iconic works including Evil Dead (2013) and Don't Breathe (2016). Álvarez wrote the script in collaboration with Rodo Sayagues, who had worked with him, on his previous horror films.

Alien: Romulus is studded with a set of very talented cast including Cailee Spaeny, Archie Renaux, David Jonsson, Isabela Merced, Aileen Wu, and Spike Fearn. The story of the new Alien movie follows a group of astronauts on a mission to find a new. They stumble upon an abandoned space station and mistakenly set loose a Xenomorph, that starts its hunt.

Ridley Scott is one of the pioneer filmmakers of the Alien franchise, who has directed three Alien movies including Alien (1979), Alien: Covenant (2017), and Prometheus (2012). The titles under the Alien movies lie an element or a sub-text that shares a connection to the story.

Prometheus was named after the Titan in Greek mythology, who stole fire from the gods and gifted it to mankind. This was indicative of the role of David, an android, in the movie. In Alien: Covenant, the colonization ship was named Covenant, and the astronauts were traveling on their way to reach planet Origae-6, which turned out to be their fatal flaw. In Álvarez's 2024 film, Romulus is the name of one, of two labs in the space center. The other lab is named as Remus. Together, these allude to the mythological story of the brothers Remus and Romulus.

The title of Alien: Romulus comes from the Roman Mythology

The title of Ridley Scott's 2012 movie Prometheus came from Greek mythology. Prometheus was a Greek Titan and a very clever trickster who stole fire from gods and gifted it to mankind. As a punishment, he was condemned to eternal damnation by Zeus. He was chained to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains and an eagle was sent to eat his liver every day, which would keep on recovering.

The title of Alien: Romulus is deeply interwoven with the narrative. A completely new group of characters are on a space mission, to find a habitat where there would be chances for new life. On their mission, they stumble upon two labs on the space station, which are named Remus and Romulus.

On the abandoned Romulus lab, the team take a step that pushes them toward their terrible fate. They find a steel door sealed from the outside with a clear warning, which they decide to ignore. This releases a baby Xenomorph (Chestburster), which starts finding its host, sticking to its face, and then taking complete control over it. The other lab Remus, also must have some things that are not meant to wander outside.

Xynomorphs are deadly parasites (Image via 20th Century Studios)

The two names Remus and Romulus, come from two mythical twin brothers in Roman mythology. They were the children of Mars, the god of war who were raised by a wolf. Romulus was the founder of the city of Rome, and the entire Roman empire who had sinned of fratricide, that is he had killed his brother Remus.

This story of the mythological siblings in Alien: Romulus, somewhere indicates to subling relationship between Raine and his cyborg brother Andy. Both of them go on a colonizing mission, that could revolutionize their entire fate and make them reach Yvago, which has far better living conditions, than their dump yard star colony. However, there are obstacles in the journey, that soon turn dark and nerve-wracking.

What is the story of Alien: Romulus

The group makes their journey to the abandoned USCSS Nostromo Space Station (Image via 20th Century Studios)

The story of Alien: Romulus begins with a group of space explorers, who stumble upon the USCSS Nostromo Space Station, the ship that Warrant Officer Ripley had destroyed to kill the Xenomorph at the very end of Alien (1979). It is now completely abandoned, and that group has now come in search of that alien. These Xenomorphs are extraterrestrial beings that can survive years in space without anything for nourishment.

The Weyland-Yutani Corp is a large multi-antinational company, founded in the year 2099 that wants to find these Xenomorphs and study them. The main character, Marie Raine Carradine, belongs to the Jackson' Star Colony, 65 light years away from Earth. With just a population of less than three thousand, it has poor living conditions and absolutely no light of sun.

Andy in Alien: Romulus (Image via 20th Century Studios)

Raine lives on Jackson Star with a Weyland-Yutani Synthetic android, whom she calls Andy, whom she found in a dump yard. Their parents have died, and all they have are each other. It was very hard for the workers born in the Jackson Star Colony, to complete their working quota and leave the star, with the diplomatic beaurecrats. But her ex-boyfriend Tyler finds a way when he discovers an abandoned shipwreck (USCSS Nostromo Space Station) above the colony which has several unused cryonic stasis chambers, that can allow their group to make their nine-year journey to the planet of Yvago, that have better living conditions.

They would need Andy, who has the information to operate these chambers and access restricted areas of the abandoned space center. So, the entire group of travelers including Raine, Andy, Tyler, his pregnant sister Kay, his cousin Bjorn, and his girlfriend Navarro, embark on a journey toward their freedom.

Remus and Romulus (Image via 20th Century Studios)

When they reach, this is where they find that the entire space station is separated into two parts Remus and Romulus. The mythical character of Romulus was a power-hungry builder of empires that could refer to Weyland-Yutani's hunger to expand across the universe.

Though they find the cryonic stasis chambers, they don't have enough fuel to last for nine years. So the group has to move a part of the ship, that had stored a group of frozen Xenomorphs. When the ship's fuel is tampered with, it releases the frozen huge attaching parasites to life. This is where their entire plan gets messed up, and the true horror begins.

Alien: Romulus is a must-watch film for every fan of this franchise, as this movie sets a completely different storyline, with new characters, that could potentially have more movies in the future.

Edited by Bharath S