2024’s Alien: Romulus is one of the best entries in the franchise, marking an impressive return to form with nonstop sci-fi horror and gruesome Xenomorph attacks. However, the movie also has a fascinating handful of deleted scenes that are well worth examining beyond the original theatrical cut.
Like most movies, Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus went through several changes before it hit theaters back in 2024. Released as part of the movie’s digital and physical release, Romulus has four deleted scenes totaling about 11 minutes, featuring both cut sequences and alternate versions of existing scenes.
While not every scene deserved to survive the cutting room floor, some could have arguably improved the movie and/or made it even cleaner. Keeping that in mind, here are all the major deleted scenes from Alien: Romulus, ranked from least to most needed.
4
Bjorn’s Alternate Alien: Romulus Death
Bjorn’s death is one of the more memorably gruesome moments in Alien: Romulus. Using an electric shock baton, Bjorn attempts to kill a newly matured Xenomorph in its cocoon, only to be stabbed in the eye. Then, the resulting shower of corrosive Xeno blood lands on Bjorn directly below, melting his fingers and burning through his chest and heart.
In the alternate version, Bjorn believes he’s killed the creature and starts to move on with Kay, only to be impaled from behind and dragged back to the cocoon and killed by its blood. Overall, the original death feels much cleaner/more brutal, making the alternate death feel much less needed.
In this deleted scene, Rain, Tyler, and Andy discover Kay trapped inside the Xenomorph hive and work to free her. Andy then spots a Xenomorph lurking down the corridor and warns Rain not to fire. However, this new sequence sees Rain panicking and firing off several warning shots all the same.
This would have mildly improved the movie by showing how the Xenos became far more aggressive and intense in their predatory tactics over time in response to the humans’ fear. However, you still get the idea even without this moment in the theatrical cut.
2
Extended Facehugger Hallway Scene
One of Alien: Romulus’ most suspenseful sequences involves Rain, Andy, and Tyler slowly and carefully navigating a room filled with heat-seeking Facehuggers. Likewise, the extended release version makes the sequence even more nerve-racking as Rain steps over some debris before accidentally brushing against a dormant Facehugger on a nearby crate behind her. When the Facehugger reacts, Rain panics and bumps into a suspended corpse being used as a Facehugger nest, with the corpse itself being a dummy of director Fede Álvarez.
On the whole, the cut moments to this sequence would have certainly made it even better, and the director cameo could have been pretty cool as well. That said, nothing huge is necessarily lost or made worse by the moment being cut.
1
Alternate Dialogue In The Romulus Lab
The alternate version of the Romulus lab conversation with Andy and Rook explaining the value of the Z-01 compound derived from Xenomorph blood is particularly interesting, as it arguably could have improved the movie the most.
In the original theatrical cut, the compound is also referred to as “Promethan Fire,” and the lab scene also features references to Peter Weyland and the events of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. While those connections are interesting, the execution and ties admittedly felt pretty shoehorned in. Instead, this alternate cut is much tighter and far less lore-dumpy, having no connections to Prometheus and instead simply cites the value of the compound as “a much-needed, and overdue upgrade for humanity.”
While Alien: Romulus does benefit from its connections to the wider franchise elsewhere, this moment in particular fell pretty flat, making this alternate version pretty appealing in retrospect. Of all the four deleted scenes from Alien: Romulus, this is the one that seemingly would have made the biggest difference to the theatrical cut.
- Release Date
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August 16, 2024
- Runtime
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119 Minutes
- Director
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Fede Alvarez
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