The Surprising Connections Between ALIEN: ROMULUS and THE LAST OF US

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As a cinephile with a penchant for both horror and video games, I find it utterly captivating how Fede Alvarez’s creative mind has managed to weave threads between two seemingly disparate universes – ‘Alien: Romulus’ and ‘The Last of Us’. The coincidental casting of Isabella Merced in both projects is a testament to the power of inspiration and serendipity.

When contemplating the Alien movie series and The Last of Us games and TV show, it’s hard to find any common ground, right? After all, one is an intense, post-apocalyptic odyssey featuring fungus-infected people, while the other is… well, The Last of Us. A bit of humor there! Nonetheless, both share the genre of creature horror with a touch of sci-fi, but beyond that, comparisons might be few. However, if you’re a filmmaker like Fede Alvarez, you may have drawn inspiration from one to create the other. As Alvarez himself admitted, The Last of Us: Part II did indeed inspire Alien: Romulus.

On Twitter, director Sam Raimi answered a fan’s query about whether or not he had played “The Last of Us Part II.” Raimi disclosed that he was currently playing the game while working on “Alien: Romulus,” and he drew inspiration directly from one of its characters for his writing.

“Contemplating Dina’s pregnancy inspired me to make Kay a pregnant character as well. Subsequently, I chose Isabella Merced for the role of Kay. Interestingly, a year later, Isabella was cast as Dina in an HBO series – an amazing turn of events based on a true story.”

Fun fact: I was playing #TheLastOfUs2 while writing #AlienRomulus The story of a pregnant Dina made me think of having the character of Kay be pregnant too. Then I cast Isabella Merced to play Kay…. A year later she gets cast to play Dina on the HBO show…. True story.

— Fede Alvarez (@fedalvar) August 24, 2024

It’s more like art copying art than life imitating art, isn’t it? The coincidence that Isabella Merced plays Kay in Romulus, and HBO then casts her as Dina, who is Ellie’s girlfriend in The Last of Us, is incredibly intriguing. In the game and upcoming series, it’s Dina who suffers the consequences of Ellie’s relentless pursuit for vengeance.

But that isn’t the only fun parallel. Another Twitter person noticed a visual similarity between the character of Lev in TLOU2 and Navarro in Romulus. Both people of Asian descent with shaved heads. Alvarez confirmed this, too, in gif format.

— Fede Alvarez (@fedalvar) August 25, 2024

So the moral of the story: play video games. Thank you.

Kyle Anderson, our esteemed Senior Editor at TopMob, presents a weekly exploration of pop culture through his podcast named Laser Focus. His insightful movie and television critiques are readily available here. Keep up with his latest musings by following him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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2024-08-26 21:32