Alien: Romulus viewers ‘disgusted’ as dead film star is brought back to life through AI-Laura Harman-Entertainment – Metro

Alien:Romulus has shocked fans with the inclusion of a dead actor (Picture: AP)

Ian Holm’s character Ash was brought back to life using AI in the new film Alien: Romulus and fans are horrified by the dead actor’s inclusion.

Alien: Romulus, the scary reboot of the classic body horror franchise landed in cinemas on August 16.

While fans have loved this new instalment, they have been disgusted by one element of the film, the use of AI to include Holm who played Ash in the original 1979 film but died in 2020 at the age of 88.

Even before the film was released, Metro.co.uk‘s Tori Brazier suggested that Holm’s AI incarnation would upset viewers as she branded the move ‘ethically murky.’

‘Evil Dead filmmaker Álvarez also pins the role of pivotal plot device on a character cameo some audience members may consider ethically murky before leaping to a grisly final act that features a major swing,’ she said in her review.

Brazier later added: ‘For some, that ethically dubious character revival will remain the scariest part of all from Alien: Romulus’ – and she was right.

Fans took to social media to express their disgust after seeing Holm’s likeness being used in the film.

Holm died in 2020 (Picture: 20th Century Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutt)

Holm played Ash in Alien who was the secondary antagonist (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)

‘I am of the opinion that the Alien series and Ian Holm’s memory deserve better than this,’ said HelsingBear on X.

‘In all honesty, as much as I loved and adored Romulus, I truly see no justifiable reason to bring back Ian Holm posthumously via CGI. They should’ve just kept Daniel Betts as Rook, and there would be no issue. It was the most unnecessary “cameo” of all time and just weird,’ said Within1Stem.

‘Probably late to the party on this, but the usage of Ian Holm’s image and presence in the new Alien film feels awful to me. I hate it. I hate that movies are doing this with dead actors,’ said Willow_catelyn.

Sigourney Weaver, Yaphet Kotto, Tom Sherritt, John Hurt and Holm starred in the Ridley Scott film (Picture: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)

Some also suggested that they didn’t enjoy the cameo because the CGI wasn’t particularly good.

‘Alien Romulus was amazing BUT every time cgi ian holm popped up i groaned. it genuinely looked so bad,’ said stabfreeman.

The director also emphasised that the film relied mostly on practical shots and avoided CGI as much as possible, raising the question of why they relied so heavily on CGI and AI for the inclusion of this character when trying to avoid this Hollywood tool.

Another fan suggested that the director should have asked Lance Henriksen to play the role instead.

‘I’m fine with Alien: Romulus, by and large, but I don’t understand why you’d use a dead Ian Holm when we have a live Lance Henriksen,’ suggested CelluloidWhisky.

Henrikson played Bishop, an android in Aliens (1986) and Bishop’s human designer Michael Weyland in Alien 3. 

Others felt the homage to Holm was a great addition to the film. ‘It was really cool seeing Ian Holm in Alien: Romulus again,’ said NosrabNeb.

The original film was a huge hit (Picture: Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly Álvarez said that Holm was included only after he asked permission from Holm’s widow.

‘The whole thing started with me calling the estate and talking with his widow,’ he said.

‘She felt that Ian was given the cold shoulder by Hollywood in the last years of his life, that he would’ve loved to be part of more projects after The Hobbit, but he wasn’t. So she was thrilled about the idea of having him back.’

In the original film, Holm played Ash, a robot – known as synthetics – who was a crew member but later destroyed by Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). In the 2024 film, which takes place just after the events of the 1979 movie, an AI Holm plays a character named Rook who is a different physical android but shares the same consciousness as Ash.

Explaining the new character made via AI the director explained: ‘He has the likeness, but he has a different demeanour. Rook and Ash have the same knowledge because it’s all Mother (the mainframe of the ship).’

‘It’s a different android, but it’s the same consciousness of Mother that moved from one android to the other.’

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

Entertainment – MetroRead More