Inside the creation of Alien: Romulus – how the art team brought the terror up to date

Alien Romulus; a xenomorph
(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

Set between Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986), Alien: Romulus, the latest addition to the sci-fi horror franchise, eschews the slick look of the last two instalments and takes us back to the chunky, grimy aesthetic of the original films; it's a style that has seen the film nominated for a Best Visual Effects Academy Award at this years Oscars 2025.

With Alien: Romulus we’re back in a world where computer operating systems are text-based and DOS-like, where every grainy video feed jitters to life on an analogue screen, and every creaky, dishevelled piece of tech is ancient-looking and coated in filth, but somehow still works. Just about. (It's the same retro, nostalgic approach the artists behind Alien: Rogue Incursion took.)

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Tanya Combrinck

Tanya is a writer covering art, design, and visual effects. She has 16 years of experience as a magazine journalist and has written for numerous publications including ImagineFX, 3D World, 3D Artist, Computer Arts, net magazine, and Creative Bloq. For Creative Bloq, she mostly writes about digital art and VFX.

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