Alien: Romulus is the final installment of Ridley Scott’s immensely popular film Foreigner franchise, set between the events of the first and second films. The story follows a group of scavengers, led by a young woman named Rain, who set out for an abandoned ship in search of parts that they can sell to gain their freedom. But what they find on the ship is far more dangerous than anything they could have expected. The story of Alien: Romulus It is very reminiscent of the first film, but there are many interesting themes explored that give it a unique identity.
David Jonsson’s character, Andy, is one of the most interesting figures in the Alien: Romulusas it allows for some intricate commentary on the future of humanity’s relationships with robots and artificial intelligence. The film spends a lot of time exploring the extent to which Andy is defined by his core programming.giving him different orders at different points in the film and examining how he responds to his shifting moral compass. Andy is Rain’s brother, but their relationship is often strained due to his lack of humanity, and the film has several ways of showing this.
Andy fails Alien: Romulus because his module isn’t fully working
The robot has some defective parts
Since the beginning of Alien: RomulusIt’s clear that something isn’t right with Andy. He is often seen crashing and forgetting things, which is usually the first sign that a machine is on its way to extinction. These flaws become more common as the story progresses, giving Andy a unique character arc that explores the extent to which he is defined by his programming rather than the lived experiences he has had. The main reason for Andy’s failures at the beginning of the film is his faulty module.which was first installed by his father before his death.
The faulty module is a clear indication of Andy and Rain’s poverty in their current living situation, as they have no money to fix it without selling everything they worked so hard to build. Rain frequently expresses her concern for Andy, wishing she could repair him and buy a new module, and this likely contributes to her willingness to join the scavengers on their expedition. Rain is one of Foreigner best protagonists in the franchise, and her constant concern for Andy makes her extremely likable in Alien: Romulus.
Andy also glitches whenever he is physically damaged
The character’s beating at the beginning of the film harms him even more
Another reason for Andy’s frequent failures is his physical injuries: the android has been through a lot since Rain’s father died, including constant manual labor and sporadic beatings from strangers who wanted to steal his parts. At the beginning of Alien: RomulusAndy is beaten up in the streets, and as a result, Rain is forced to carefully repair him – this immediately presents the character as fragile and brittlehelping to explain why Rain is so eager to go scavenging later in the story.
Both Andy and Rook are the two most damaged and vulnerable characters in this story, which is a clear commentary on the futility of corporate greed in this capitalist universe.
The androids in Foreigner movies tend to be the strongest and smartest of all the characters, but Alien: Romulus turn that upside down. Both Andy and Rook are the two most damaged and vulnerable characters in this story, which is a clear commentary on the futility of corporate greed in this capitalist universe. Rook was harmed because of his commitment to the corporate mission above his own safety, and Andy keeps crashing because his planet doesn’t pay Rain enough to buy the parts to repair it.
Andy’s flaws connect to his backstory and Rain’s father
The late engineer is no longer there to fix Andy’s flaws
Foreigner films have always had some political connotations, but the treatment given to androids and their relationship with social class in Alien: Romulus is one of the most interesting works in the film. Andy represents a brand of society that is repressed and ignored because he is not seen as well as “important” like the richest residents on the planet, which is a clear attempt by director Fede Alvarez to make an analogy for today’s real-life situation. Andy’s Flaws repeatedly displays this aspect of Andy’s story, presenting him as broken by the injustice on his planet.
Andy’s failures also draw attention to the absence of Rain’s father, who is described as a talented engineer who programmed Andy in the first place. If he were still alive, their father would have been able to reconnect Andy and probably fix his flaws, but instead, they serve as a reminder that he is gone. This puts the responsibility on Rain to step into his father’s shoes and protect his adoptive brother, first from injustice at home, and then from all the Xenomorphs on the Romulus space station.
Why Rook’s module stops Andy’s crashes
Weyland-Yutani Android has advanced software
In mid Alien: Romulus, Andy receives a new module chip this resets his original programming and gives him a new lead detective. While this is bad news for Rain and her friends (as it supersedes Andy’s previous orders to protect them), it simultaneously upgrades Andy’s AI and seemingly fixes the flaws.
The changes to Andy’s guidelines play an important role in Alien: Romulusgiving the film space to explore the ethical complexities between Weyland-Yutani and her employees. The company’s androids essentially exist only to generate maximum profit for the companyas they do not have the same self-survival instinct as humans. They will always make difficult decisions that will benefit the company and not the employees – Andy is different, however, as he was programmed by a father’s love for his daughter.
At the end of Alien: RomulusRain manages to replace Andy’s chip with his original module, restoring his prime directive and ensuring that his updated AI keeps the glitches under control. It’s a win-win situation, but most importantly it represents the film’s central message that technology should not be used only for profit.