The final trailer for Alien: Romulus teases several callbacks to the original Alien

The seventh film in the Alien franchise is almost here and with the release date inching closer, 20th Century Studios has released the final full-length trailer. While the original 1979 Alien from director Ridley Scott and James Cameron's 1986 sequel have been widely praised, the four that followed are considered far more polarizing. Can Evil Dead (2013) director Fede Álvarez get the franchise back on track with Alien: Romulus?

So far, it seems like this series is headed in the right direction. For starters, Álvarez is a great choice for director. Both of his previous horror films, Evil Dead and Don't Breathe, were well-received and Álvarez often uses practical effects in his film, which is ideal for an Alien film.

Star Cailee Spaeny previously told Variety that production hired the same team that built the xenomorphs in Cameron's Aliens, which is incredibly exciting, to say the least. In that same interview, she also confirmed that Alien: Romulus takes place chronologically between Alien and Aliens.

The final trailer, embedded above, teases plenty of franchise staples to get excited about, including the Xenomorphs themselves and the return of the facehuggers. Alien: Romulus follows a group of space colonists who venture into the abandoned Romulus space station in search of leftover equipment to sell. Unfortunately for them, they soon discover exactly why the space station was abandoned.

Everything about the trailer looks suitably terrifying, but I do wonder if it gives away too much. There's at least one scene that is a clear homage to the original chestburster scene and I kept waiting for the clip to end, but it kept going! I'm hoping that there will be plenty more scares than what was shown and that some of the clips might be misdirects so there will still be surprises in store.

Speaking of the 1979 film, the trailer's eerie snippet of "You Are My Lucky Star," the song Ripley sings in the original, is a nice touch.

Apart from the seventh film in the Alien franchise, fans also have Noah Hawley's upcoming FX series Alien: Earth to look forward to, which recently wrapped filming and will likely premiere in 2025.

Alien: Romulus has been rated R for bloody violent content and some language. It will be released in theaters and IMAX on August 16.