Alien: Romulus Team Defends Controversial Actor's Resurrection

Fans hated this “cameo”.

Warning, this article contains spoilers Alien: Romulus and the Alien saga in general

After Peter Cushing in Rogue OneCarrie Fisher in Star Wars 9Harold Ramis in Ghostbusters: Legacy or more recently Christopher Reeve in FlashHollywood has once again cast a dead actor in a blockbuster. And fans are not happy at all.

Alien: Romulus had a big surprise in store for us, and no one expected it. This film takes us back to the origins of the saga, between the Alien by Ridley Scott and the Aliens by James Cameron. Which resulted in the return of a character from the first part released in 1979: Ash, played by Ian Holm, the actor of Chariots of Fire, Brazil Or The Lord of the Rings.

In AlienAsh is a member of the Nostromo crew with dark intentions. He is revealed to be an android placed on the ship by the company to ensure the creature's return, with no regard for the lives of the crew. After a confrontation with Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), he is killed and his decapitated head is reactivated to reveal his secrets before being destroyed once and for all with a flamethrower.

Ian Holm is back in Alien: Romulus to play Rook, another android with a similar function in the story. Except that the British man died in 2020 and so it was necessary to use technology to resurrect him on screen. An incomprehensible choice for many fans, some of whom are screaming digital necromancy. Especially since Holm's line is not just a cameo but has a real role.

In the columns of the Los Angeles Timesthe creators ofAlien: Romulus trying to put out the fire.

“We didn't try to do what is impossible, which is to reproduce this person's talent as an actor, because it's another character. The only thing they have in common is their resemblance.“, justifies the director Fede Alvarez who then details the path which led to the resurrection of Ian Holmes.

“We knew we were going to create an animatronic and then we would make digital improvements to the mouth and eyes based on the shots. Then the question arose about what face he was going to have. The only one who hadn't reappeared in the saga and who we found fascinating was Ian Holm.“.

A British actor was also on set to deliver the character's lines. His voice was then altered with AI to sound like Ian Holm's.

Holm's widow and Ridley Scott, who remained very close to the actor, were enthusiastic about Alvarez's idea.In the ten years that followed The Hobbit Ian Holm felt like Hollywood had turned its back on him, and his widow thought he would have loved to be a part of that. He particularly loved the character“, assures the director.

“Ian Holm suddenly appearing as a company robot was a great idea.“, Scott supports.”That's how ideas work. Great ideas evolve. The next step was Blade Runnerwhere Roy Batty faces an evolved replicant, a human who is not human, but in essence, according to the old terminology, a robot.“.

Not sure that these explanations will satisfy the spectators ofAlien: Romulus who were shocked by this controversial process.