Dangerous Digital Necromancy in Alien: Romulus
My thoughts on an immoral, increasingly common practice
**SPOILERS FOR ALIEN: ROMULUS ARE CONTAINED IN THIS ARTICLE**
A week ago, I published a podcast about Rogue One to pair with the new Alien: Romulus. The thought was that both of these movies take place in between two previous films in their franchise. Little did I know that the pairing would be so appropriate.
If you’re interested, please listen and subscribe -
Now, you may see the title and think, what the hell is digital necromancy. Well, it is exactly what it sounds like. I would define it as using digital means to resurrect a dead actor in order to play a part in a new movie. A perfect example of that old Jurassic Park chestnut, “Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.”
In Rogue One, Peter Cushing is resurrected to play his character of Grand Moff Tarkin. It is disturbing, unnecessary, and a galling decision from the creators of that mildly misguided film. Here is a clip.
Now that brings us to Alien: Romulus, a movie I was very much looking forward to. This is not the space for a review of that movie, and thank god. It is a weird one, because if you take away the digital resurrection of a certain actor and the MANY fan service moments, it is a solid to very good Alien movie. But, alas, they just refused to stop themselves from making their audience into a Leonardo DiCaprio meme, pointing at things they recognize.
But ok, HERE COME THE SPOILERS…
In Alien: Romulus, we have brand new characters to follow, and thank god. This is a huge universe, and there are room for Non-Ripley stories. And about 30 minutes in, I thought this was going to be a favorite of the franchise. It has a new outlook, new people, and new perspectives. Awesome. That is, until they arrive where all the action takes place.
Eventually, it is revealed that the android who has been cut in half (also a nod to Bishop in Aliens, but I digress) is none other than Ash from Alien. Well, kind of. The character’s name is Rook but it’s the same model. That model, of course, looks exactly like Ian Holm. Ian Holm who died in 2020. Ok, exactly is a stretch because frankly, the effects look absolutely awful. It felt like watching a cut scene in a video game from about 2005.
Now, some may argue that this is totally different from the Peter Cushing AI monstrosity. They would be right, but not right enough. Yes, there is an actual actor performing the voice and there are animatronics involved.
But it was enough of a gray area that the creatives contacted his family to use his likeness. Doesn’t this make it OK? His family said it was ok. That is up to you. To me, absolutely not! Just because money changed hands does not affect the morality of this decision.
Now, I want to be clear. I am not here to denigrate or insult Ridley Scott, Fede Alvarez, or anyone else involved in the movie. This is about the long game. There is nothing individually awful about the portrayal here (other than it looks terrible), but I fear that we are headed down the wrong path. We can. But we should not.
I truly believe that this is akin to digging up a corpse and puppeteering them around on screen. I hold the value of the performer very close to my heart. It is not simply entertainment, it is art. And yes, this includes a science fiction franchise like Alien. Actors deserve control over their likeness and the way they are seen on screen. Ian Holm and Peter Cushing died. We should not force them to be on screen just because we have an idea about that character.
I have no trouble imagining a world where this goes horrifically wrong. Just go with me for a moment, and feel free to tell me that I am worried about things that will never happen.
Imagine an actor or actress dies. Imagine they have one surviving family member. Imagine that family member is radicalized. Now we have a chance that this person will be used after death to further an agenda that actively harms people.
If you think I’m crazy, fine. But don’t go on Tik Tok and see the hideous deepfakes that already exist.
We can do better. This is immoral and should be illegal. Every actor should write their will right now and make this unattainable for these monstrous studios.