(Spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen “Alien: Romulus” — or, for that matter, the original 1979 “Alien” — consider holding off on this one.) A familiar face appears unexpectedly a third of the way into “Alien: Romulus,” the gruesome new interquel in the “Alien” franchise currently in theaters. The inclusion of a new “synthetic” (a humanoid android) bearing the likeness of the late actor Ian Holm has already sparked impassioned online reactions.
Social media users have questioned the ethics of the multiple-scene cameo, with some calling it “digital necromancy.” Holm, who acted in “Chariots of Fire,” “Brazil” and “The Sweet Hereafter,” died in 2020 at age 88. For Ridley Scott’s original 1979 sci-fi-horror classic “Alien,” Holm played Ash, a secretly synthetic crew member with ulterior motives.
And now his face and voice have been resurrected as a new character named Rook, also synthetic. While “Alien: Romulus” director Fede Alvarez admits to using AI to create the illusion, he hopes viewers will consider the film’s larger intent. “We were not trying to do what can’t be done, which is to reproduce that person’s talent as an actor, because this is another character,” Alvarez, 46, tells The Times.
“The only thing they have in common is the likeness.” Among many other callbacks to both “Alien” and James Cameron’s 1986 sequel “Aliens,” the appearance of a half-destroyed android torso interacting with passenger.