Android Rook & Connection To Original Franchise Character Explained By Director Only4Media.com

Warning! SPOILERS ahead for Alien: Romulus.

Alien: Romulus director Fede Alvarez explains how the movie’s abandoned station’s Android Rook has closer ties than the audience may initially expect to the events of the original 1979 movie. Set between the events of the original Alien and Aliens, the 2024 sequel tells the story of a group of ambitious young residents of a distant colony world hoping a heist on an abandoned space station may give them a chance to escape to a better life. However, what awaits on board is one of Weyland-Yutani’s darkest secrets, dormant but as deadly as ever.

With Alien: Romulus terrifying critics and audiences alike, Alvarez dived into the story of the abandoned space station to explain how one character connects to the franchise’s past to EW. With Rook bearing the likeness to Ian Holm’s duplicitous android Ash to establish they are of the same model, the director stated that while his personality may differ, his connection to the Mother mainframe sees him hold the same knowledge and priorities as the earlier android. Check out Alvarezs response below:

He has the likeness, but he has a different demeanor. Rook and Ash have the same knowledge because it’s all Mother. It’s a different android, but it’s the same consciousness of Mother that moved from one android to the other.

Androids Can Be Both Horror & Heroes In The Alien Franchise

Not All Androids Share The Same Programming.

While the overwhelming, inhuman threat of the Xenomorph is the central threat of the Alien franchise, the androids of the series have represented a variety of different threats across the series. In the original movie, Ash turns from an avarage member of the Nostromo’s crew into a cold, unfealing avatar of the company’s will, regardless of his “colleague’s” safety. Meanwhile, Michael Fassbender’s David of Ridley Scott’s prequel duology is a sinister exploration of sentience and evolution.

These antagonistic androids, however, do not make all synthetic beings in the Alien franchise something to be feared, as seen with Andy (David Jonsson) in Alien: Romulus‘ cast and his battles with the overriding Weyland-Yutani directives. Even Bishop (Lance Henriksen), who bears the likeness of company employee Michael Bishop, follows company priorities, and being subject to Ripley’s (Sigourney Weaver) distrust, would put his human ally’s safety over his maker’s mission. Similarly, Call (Winona Ryder) of Alien: Resurrection waged a campaign against the USM’s attempts in reviving the Xenomorph, even in an age where Synthetics were widely shunned due to a bloody conflict.

Though Xenomorphs are the face of the franchise’s foes, Androids and Synthetics are just as a vital component to the franchise as the apex predator. As such, Rook’s addition is a welcome surprise beyond his somewhat controversial likeness to Holm, as his purpose is a welcome foil to Andy’s role in Alien: Romulus’ story. Furthermore, with Rook having a closer tie to Ash beyond his face, his inclusion is once more a perfect personification of the overwhelming threat of Weyland-Yutani, always lurking in the background and determined to make a profit, no matter how high the bodies pile up.

Source: EW

Alien: Romulus

3.5

Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the Alien franchise. The movie is directed by Fede Álvarez and will focus on a new young group of characters who come face to face with the terrifying Xenomorphs. Alien: Romulus is a stand-alone film and takes place in a time not yet explored in the Alien franchise.

Director

Fede Alvarez

Release Date

August 16, 2024

Studio(s)

Scott Free Productions , 20th Century

Distributor(s)

20th Century

Writers

Fede Alvarez , Rodo Sayagues , Dan O’Bannon , Ronald Shusett

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