Alien: Romulus director Fede Alvarez has revealed that the sci-fi movie has a surprising connection to The Last of Us. This story contains spoilers for Alien: Romulus and The Last of Us.
Posting on social media, Alvarez said he was playing The Last of Us: Part II while he was writing Romulus, and the storyline of Dina being pregnant gave him the idea that Kay should be pregnant in the movie.
After this, Alvarez cast Isabela Merced as Kay… and a year later she was cast as Dina on HBO’s The Last of Us. “True story,” Alvarez said.
Some people also believe that the Romulus character Navarro was inspired by Lev from The Last of Us. Alvarez responded with a cheeky gif that suggests this might indeed be the case.
Alien: Romulus was released in theaters earlier this month and has become a success, earning solid review scores and more than $225 million worldwide thus far. In fact, Romulus is now the No. 3 highest-grossing entry in the entire Alien franchise, trailing only Alien: Covenant ($240 million) and Prometheus ($403 million).
The filmmakers used artificial intelligence for a key part of Alien: Romulus, and Alvarez has defended the use of AI as people in Hollywood and beyond question and criticize how AI is implemented in creative projects.
As for The Last of Us, the HBO series returns in 2025. As mentioned, Merced joins the cast as Dina, with Kaitlyn Dever coming aboard to play Abby. It was recently confirmed that Dever needed extra security.
