‘Alien: Romulus’ director confirms a character was inspired by ‘The Last Of Us Part II’

Alien: Romulus director Fede Álvarez has confirmed that a character in the film was heavily inspired by Naughty Dog‘s The Last Of Us Part II video game – find out more below.

• READ MORE: ‘Alien: Romulus’ review: chest-bursting reboot is as thrilling and scary as the original

Álvarez, who also directed 2013’s Evil Dead and the Don’t Breathe franchise, took to social media over the weekend to share that the character of Kay in Alien: Romulus – played by Isabela Merced – was partially inspired by The Last Of Us Part II‘s Dina.

In The Last Of Us Part II, Dina is pregnant, adding another layer of intensity and seriousness into the apocalyptic game’s setting. This prompted Álvarez to decide that Kay should be pregnant as well.

He wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Fun fact: I was playing The Last Of Us 2 while writing Alien: Romulus. The story of a pregnant Dina made me think of having the character of pregnant too. Then I cast Isabela Merced to play Kay…”

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. https://t.co/fABV9L1x1I pic.twitter.com/prDV6bHTYf

— Fede Alvarez (@fedalvar) August 24, 2024

However, the casting would turn into a full-circle moment for both Álvarez and Merced as a year after Merced’s casting in Alien: Romulus, it was announced that she would be playing the role of Dina in HBO‘s second season of The Last Of Us alongside Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal.

Álvarez wrote: “A year later she gets cast to play Dina in the HBO show… true story.”

In a glowing five-star review of Alien: Romulus for NME, James Mottram wrote: “With spot-on production design that really captures the worn-out feel of space travel that the Alien films so perfectly showed, the practical and visual effects, bringing that acid-dripping bitch back to life, are also superbly realised. With a gets-right-under-the-skin score from Benjamin Wallfisch, this is an Alien film for the ages. Finally, someone has made a movie that comes close to the brilliance of Ridley Scott and James Cameron.”