Where Alien: Romulus Really Fits On The Timeline - Is It A Sequel Or A Prequel?

After Ridley Scott's trip back into the space where no one could hear you scream, courtesy of "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant," the revered filmmaker handed the keys to the Alien franchise to director Fede Álvarez to tell his own story. The result was a stellar space nightmare by the name of "Alien: Romulus," which reinvigorated the franchise with scares that arguably hadn't been felt in decades. What might be the film's greatest asset is that it went back to the haunting film series' roots and pulled some of its terrifying tricks to the present day. It was also a warranted tactic due to where this particular chapter in the Alien saga is taking place.

But just where in the Alien timeline is "Alien: Romulus" set? What impact does it have on the rest of the history of the xenomorph that makes it a chapter worth bursting chests over? Well, pick up your tracker, check those corners, and don't trust a single insulation tube embedded in a wall, as it could be something else entirely.

Like "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant," the connective tissue of the perfect organism is at its thinnest in binding "Alien: Romulus" to the core story of Ellen Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) battle against the xenomorph lifeforms. Fede Álvarez's film follows Rain (Cailee Spaeny), an off-world worker who lives with Andy (David Jonsson), an android programmed by her late father to look after Rain but regularly malfunctions while trying to maintain his prime directive to "do what's best for Rain." That solution comes in the form of a potential ticket off-world that would get Rain out of her low-level job that just got a year's extension she didn't even ask for. In order to make the journey, though, she and her band of buddies must board a ship circling the planet she currently lives on, obtain fuel for cryo chambers and use it to make a lengthy venture to pastures new.

Unfortunately, Rain and her team are unaware that this ship they plan on ripping off has some other inhabitants aboard, bred from a horror that occurred years before. From there, it's a fight for Rain to find a way off Romulus and Remus without a severe chest infection. That's an issue that becomes even more difficult when Andy gets reprogrammed with a new directive that is all for the good of the company, thanks to the android Rook (brought to life via that questionable "Alien: Romulus" cameo we need to talk about), whose orders would continue to be made throughout the Alien franchise.

As revealed at the beginning of the film, "Alien: Romulus" is literally running from DNA traces of one of the most important chapters in the Alien franchise, given that the chaos that unfolds here is a byproduct of what happened before. Rain and Andy are dealing with the mess and scientific study organized by the company that failed to keep tabs on their latest discovery. From there, faces get hugged, androids get ripped to pieces, and blood of the most dangerous variety is spilled, causing even more issues for this now abandoned ship.

What's interesting about this all, of course, is that while Rain and Andy are fighting to survive, Ripley is among the stars, waiting to be picked up for another trip back to the last place she wants to be, allowing the Alien world to branch out rather than make a beeline for what's next. This is what makes "Romulus" an exception to the rest of the Alien films, because unlike Ridley Scott's last two efforts, Álvarez's film is both a sequel and a prequel to two of the most beloved entries in franchise, and it sits nicely on the shelf as well. But which ones is it specifically?

"Alien: Romulus" takes place in 2142, 20 years after the original "Alien." The same creepy crawly that Ripley blew out of the "goddamn" airlock is the one uncovered by the Company. It wakes up aboard the Romulus and Remus, leading to the carnage that our heroes wander into.

Now, given that they destroy the ship and the Offspring (a hybrid of two of the most hated villains in the Alien franchise), as far as Rain and Andy are concerned, the lifecycle of the xenomorph as a species has come to an end. What a shame then, that while this is all happening, Ellen Ripley is in her escape pod, set to wake up 37 years later in 2179 and taken back to LV-426 in "Aliens."

Because of these crucial dates, it confirms that "Romulus" is set almost slap bang in the middle of two of the most beloved films in the Alien saga. Fittingly, it takes elements from both entries with the action and the terror to create a great little homage of horror. The only question now is where will the in-development sequel to "Alien: Romulus" take us next?