The seventh movie in the Alien franchise (excluding crossovers) features a fresh cast of relative unknowns playing all-new characters. Starting with Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror classic, the Alien film franchise has gone through many forms and filmmakers, including its four main series installments starring Sigourney Weaver and its two prequels that saw Scott return to the helm. The Alien movies also mashed with the Predator franchise for a couple of slightly related features. Fede Álvarez directs the first straight-to-streaming entry of the Alien franchise with a standalone movie made by Disney and 20th Century Studios for Hulu, and its non-star cast makes it feel like a reboot.
The new Alien movie lacks an official name — Alien: Romulus appears to be the working title — and its plot is being kept secret. However, filming began for the project in early March 2023 with a cast of actors that began to be announced in the fall of 2022. While each member of the cast of Fede Álvarez’s Alien movie has had roles in popular films and TV shows before joining this ensemble, none are household names as of their appearance here. While details about their characters are presently unavailable, below is a guide to the known cast of the new Alien movie and what else they’re known for.
Cailee Spaeny
Leading the cast of Fede Álvarez’s Alien movie in the protagonist role, Cailee Spaeny was the first actor revealed for the ensemble. Her breakout movie role came with the 2018 sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising, in which she co-starred as Amara Namani. That same year she appeared as Rose Summerspring in Bad Times at the El Royale, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s daughter Jane in the biopic On the Basis of Sex, and the teenage version of Lynne Cheney in Vice. Her other notable roles include Lily in The Craft: Legacy, Erin in Mare of Easttown, and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s daughter Anna in The First Lady.
Isabela Merced
The second actor to be cast in the new Alien movie was Isabela Merced, who has done her fair share of franchises. She starred as the title character in Dora and the Lost City of Gold and had major roles in the sequels Sicario: Day of the Soldado and Transformers: The Last Knight, as Izabela. She played Jason Momoa’s daughter in Netflix’s Sweet Girl, Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne’s adopted daughter Lizzy in Instant Family and Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan’s younger daughter, Cora, in the 2022 Father of the Bride remake, and portrayed Juliet in Hulu’s Shakespeare-inspired movie Rosaline. She was also cast in Sony’s Marvel movie Madame Web.
Also, a voice actor, Isabela Merced can be heard performing various roles (but not Dora) in Dora and Friends: Into the City! and as the protagonist Lucky in the animated feature Spirit Untamed, Heather Muldoon in the sequel The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, and the Widow Queen in the Netflix series Maya and the Three.
David Jonsson
Also cast in an unknown role in Fede Álvarez’s Alien movie, David Jonsson is a writer and director in addition to being an actor. Since making his film debut in his own short, 2018’s Gen Y, he appeared in recurring roles in the British spy series Deep State and the HBO drama Industry. This is his first blockbuster movie role, though he’s no stranger to Hulu Originals having led the cast of the 2023 movie Rye Lane.
Archie Renaux
Before joining the cast of the new Alien movie, Archie Renaux was best known for playing Mal on the series Shadow and Bone. His other roles include Tom Collins in the movie The Greatest Beer Run Ever, Bobby in the Marvel Comics adaptation Morbius, and Alex in Neil Burger’s Voyager.
Spike Fearn
Before joining the cast of Fede Álvarez’s Alien movie, Spike Fearn’s most prominent role was playing a vandal in The Batman. He also appears as Olly in Aftersun and as Louis in the British teen drama series Tell Me Everything.
Aileen Wu
Depending on the timing of its release, the new Alien movie looks to be Aileen Wu’s feature film debut. Her only other acting credit prior to her casting in the sci-fi sequel is in the 2022 short film Closing Doors, which she also produced.
