We’re checking back in with the world of sci-fi after a busy weekend.
We’ve gotten another look at Alien: Romulus and some interesting insight into Doctor Who. It was a big weekend for sequels, and there’s more of those to come. Here’s the latest.
Meet your facehugger
April 26th has been called Alien Day as a reference to LV-426, the planet where the Xenomorph first made its appearance in the original movie. This year also happens to be the 45th anniversary of the original film’s release, so writer and director Fede Álvarez gave us a look at some of the special effects being used to create the upcoming Alien: Romulus.
Álvarez showed off the coolest little mechanical facehugger. It’s operated by a remote control, so it can actually chase down potential victims. The Alien sequels have been fairly hit or miss, but the fact that Romulus features practical effects like this has me more than a little excited to check it out.
Russell T. Davies on representation in Doctor Who
The next season of Doctor Who will be Ncuti Gatwa’s first outing as the beloved character, but it’s a return to business-as-usual for showrunner Russell T. Davies. Back in 2005, Davies worked as showrunner on the Doctor Who reboot series, and he continued working on the show all through 2011 when star David Tenant left the series.
Speaking with RadioTimes at the London premiere of the new season, Davies opened up about his experience working on the show and commented on the praise he’s received for bringing LGBTQ+ representation into the long running series. “And I kind of [am] rather bemused when people say you’re representing things now, because I think that’s just people I live with, and know and love.” He went on to say, “I think Doctor Who’s a great big open door for everyone to come and see.” Hopefully Davies’s new take on the series recaptures the old magic of his original run.
Dune 2 and Godzilla X Kong win more at the box office
This past weekend was a big one for sci-fi sequels. According to Variety Dune 2 passed a major box office milestone. The movie has officially raked in $700 million globally. At the same time, Godzilla X Kong crossed the $500 million mark, and it’s been in theaters for a full month less than Denis Villeneuve’s Dune sequel. This is great news for fans of both franchises, as well as Warner Bros. of course, but it does mean that a little more fuel just got tossed on the never-ending sequels trend. That said, if the glut of sequels we’ve gotten over the past decade had all been as good as Dune 2, I probably wouldn’t be complaining.
Jeff Bridges is returning to Tron
According to Deadline, there’s some big news for Tron fans: Jeff Bridges is coming back. He’ll presumably be reprising his role from Tron and Tron: Legacy, but since we still don’t have many details about the upcoming movie, there’s always a chance that he’ll be playing an alternate version of Kevin Flynn.
Tron: Ares has been in some stage of development ever since Tron: Legacy debuted all the way back in 2010. Needless to say, the movie has gone through several iterations, but the current version is being directed by Joachim Rønning and stars Jared Leto alongside Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, and Gillian Anderson. That’s quite a cast, and on October 25th, 2025, we’ll see if they can pull off a Tron sequel that does the franchise justice.
