Following on from Mare of Easttown’s Cailee Spaeny being attached to a new Alien movie in November 2022, Dora and the Lost City of Gold star Isabela Merced has now been added as co-lead. The movie will be directed by Fede Alvarez (who was behind horror movies like 2013’s Evil Dead and 2016’s Don’t Breathe).
Not much is known about the science fiction movie other than the iconic ferocious race of alien beings called Xenomorphs will be front and centre, again reigning terror against the humans that cross their paths. Ridley Scott’s production company, Scott Free, is behind the film, which could be called Alien: Romulus. We don’t know exactly where it will fall in the Alien timeline.
As well as playing Dora the Explorer, Isabela Merced has also starred in Transformers: The Last Knight, Sicario: Day of the Soledado, 2022’s Father of the Bride, and Romeo & Juliet reimagining Rosaline. She is also set to star in Sony’s Spider-Man movie Madame Web. Merced has also been cast in Vicky Jewson’s Ballerina Overdrive – co-starring Lena Headey, Iris Apatow, Lana Condor, Yara Shahidi, and Millicent Simmonds.
The original Alien trilogy was each directed by a big-name director who brought a distinct flavour to their entries. 1979’s Alien was a horror movie directed by Ridley Scott, James Cameron’s Alien$ (1986) leaned more into sci-fi, and David Fincher’s more controversial Alien 3 (1992) was an action movie.
After a few other ill-advised entries to the franchise, Ridley Scott made his own prequels – 2012’s Prometheus and 2017’s Alien: Covenant. Some fans are still waiting for a trilogy capper to these two divisive movies.
For now, we’ve got Alvarez’s Alien movie to look forward to, and it looks as though things are ramping up with it. In the meantime, check out our guide to the best adventure movies.