While the rating of Alien: Romulus has not yet been announced, the reboot looks almost certain to avoid one major blunder the franchise made 20 years ago. The Alien franchise has been a rollercoaster ride of tones and styles.

Director Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien established the template: a claustrophobic space-set slasher where a small crew is stalked and picked off by a terrifying, biomechanical killing machine – the Xenomorph. James Cameron’s 1986 sequel, Aliens, took the franchise in a whole new direction. It transformed the story into a pulse-pounding action epic, pitting Ellen Ripley, the franchise’s lone survivor, against a horde of Xenomorphs and a greedy corporation.

Alien 3, directed by David Fincher in 1992, returned the series to its dark roots. It was a grim and nihilistic horror film that delivered a bleak ending for Ripley. Then came 1997’s Alien: Resurrection, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. This bizarre entry added a layer of black comedy to the mix, a tonal shift that left many fans scratching their heads.

However, the biggest misstep in the Alien franchise arguably came in 2004 with Alien vs Predator, directed by Paul WS Anderson. This film was a hotly anticipated crossover event, finally pitting the Xenomorph against another sci-fi horror icon – the Predator. Unfortunately, the film was a critical and commercial flop.

There were numerous reasons for Alien vs Predator’s failure. The pacing was glacial, the mythology convoluted, and the characters forgettable. These issues also plagued Scott’s later prequel films, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. However, one element made Alien vs Predator a particularly egregious offender – it sidelined the Xenomorph itself.

The film focused heavily on the Predator characters and their backstory, relegating the Xenomorphs to almost secondary antagonists. This was a major turn-off for fans who came to see a brutal showdown between these two legendary creatures.

Thankfully, Alien: Romulus seems to be rectifying this mistake. Based on trailers and promotional material, the film places the Xenomorph front and center. It appears to be a return to the franchise’s core concept – a group of unfortunate souls trapped in a confined space with a nightmarish alien creature on the loose.

Whether Alien: Romulus will succeed or not remains to be seen, but at least it seems to understand what makes the Alien franchise so terrifying: the Xenomorph itself.