Casting is well underway on 20th Century Studios’ latest Alien movie, with Isabela Merced (Transformers: The Last Knight), David Jonsson (Industry), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (The Batman), and Aileen Wu all signing on!
Cailee Spaeny (The Craft: Legacy) is set to lead the cast of the film, which is being directed by Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe). Alvarez also wrote the script with his frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues.
While plot details are currently under wraps, The Hollywood Reporter notes that “as opposed to the other movies which focused on adults in corporate, militaristic and scientific roles, this now-ninth instalment of the franchise will focus on a group of young people. On a distant colony, the group finds themselves in a fight for their lives with the titular alien, a creature known as a Xenomorph, whose race propagates by implanting eggs into people’s stomachs via face-huggers, with the juveniles eventually violently bursting out of the host’s chest.”
THR also notes that Spaney’s role “is being compared to the one played by Sigourney Weaver in the initial Alien movies.” Ridley Scott, director of the 1979 original, is on board to produce the new film via his Scott Free banner.
Words: Samantha McLaren (@themeatispeople)