Navarro was a pilot from Jackson's Star and the adoptive sister of Bjorn, played by Aileen Wu in Alien: Romulus. She tracked a Weyland-Yutani beacon above the ringed world LV-410, then flew the mining hauler Corbelan IV to the derelict Renaissance Station in 2142. Her friends wanted cryopods from the station for the nine-year trip to Yvaga III. On board, a Facehugger attacked her, and the group froze its tail to pull it from her face. Back on the hauler a Chestburster killed her, after her seizure had crashed the ship into the station's Romulus hangar.
Biography
The Salvage Plan
Navarro lived in the mining colony on LV-410, a dark world under Weyland-Yutani control. She was the adoptive sister of Bjorn, the cousin of Tyler Harrison and Kay Harrison. The night before the salvage, the group was loading the last Tesotek about 200 miles above the ground when the hauler picked up a beacon. Navarro tracked the signal to a large company vessel drifting above their heads. Tyler saw a way off the colony, because the decommissioned hull still showed a few working cryopods aboard.
Rain Carradine came to the trailers with Andy after Tyler called her. Navarro had bet the others that she would show up, and she told them they owed her five bucks. The group needed Andy, a company synthetic who could speak to the ship's computer and get them in and out. Rain feared that being caught would cost her any chance of a travel permit, and Bjorn mocked Andy as damaged goods from the trash. Tyler won her over by promising she would not even have to leave the Corbelan.
Flying The Corbelan IV
Navarro took the pilot's seat for the launch from Jackson's Star, with Rain and Andy beside her in the cockpit. Neither of them had been into space before. She ran the start-up checks for the batteries, hydraulics, comm panel, ground spoilers and fuel pump, and she pressed the pendant on her necklace to her lips before they lifted off. The hauler climbed out through the clouds and rings of LV-410. Above the atmosphere the group saw their sun, and they talked about the sunsets waiting on Yvaga.
In orbit Navarro sighted the target first, and it turned out to be far bigger than a ship. Tyler asked her to bring them closer, and she matched the outpost's roll. A proximity alarm then sounded. She admitted that the ring belt was a bit closer than she had thought, and she gave the station about 36 hours before it struck the rings. The salvage was meant to take thirty minutes. Navarro brought the Corbelan IV in slowly and docked it at a synthetic hatch on the hull.
Waiting On The Hauler
Tyler, Bjorn and Andy crossed into the station while Navarro, Rain and Kay stayed aboard. The first cryopods they found held fuel for only three years of stasis, far short of the nine-year trip. Tyler ejected an escape vehicle with the pods aboard and left Navarro to collect it while the others searched for cryo fuel. She caught the drifting vehicle with the hauler. On the flight deck, Rain asked why Bjorn was so hostile to Andy. Navarro explained that during a gas leak the cycle before, a synthetic had sealed the mines with Bjorn's mother still inside, sacrificing three miners to save a dozen others.
Tyler then called her to Airlock 5-B, their way out once they had the fuel, and she moved the ship into place. Over the comms, Bjorn told Andy that he would not be going to Yvaga, because the independent system allowed no synthetics. Rain admitted afterward that she had not had the heart to tell him. Soon after, an emergency lockdown sealed Tyler, Bjorn and Andy inside a cryo room. Andy did not have the clearance to open the door. Navarro and Rain left the hauler to get them out.
Boarding Renaissance Station
Rain and Navarro crossed into the station to reach the sealed room. In a damaged lab they found a wrecked synthetic, later identified as Rook, and Rain pulled a module from it in the hope that its credentials would give Andy a higher clearance. While Rain worked, Navarro picked up an X-ray torch and shone it through her own hand. "Whoa," she said, and then, "Sick." Rain told her to try not to touch anything, and Navarro answered, "Yeah, okay, Mom." She kept the torch.
They carried the module to the sealed room, and Rain passed it through to Tyler so he could fit it to Andy. The new chip froze Andy while it rebooted him. In the water at the men's feet, frozen Facehuggers began to wake. The creatures went for Tyler and Bjorn while Andy stood frozen. Through the window of the sealed door, Rain and Navarro saw the swarm fill the room around the three of them.
The Facehugger Attack
Rain tried to force the door open to free the others. Navarro begged her to stop, afraid that the creatures would get out if they opened it. "Those things will get out," she said, and Rain shouted her name as she held back. The door finally opened, and the group fled with a swarm of Facehuggers behind them. They sealed another door against the swarm, but one creature got through. It threw Navarro to the floor and locked onto her face.
Its tail wrapped around her neck, and when the others tried to pull it away it only choked her harder. Rain made them stop. Bjorn wanted to fry the creature with a shock device, but Andy, now speaking with a new clarity, warned that the current would make its tail contract and break her neck. He could see its bladders swelling in time with her breathing, and he judged that it was feeding her oxygen to keep her alive. He could not say for what purpose.
Removing The Facehugger
Andy pointed them to the wrecked synthetic, and they woke Rook for advice. Rook told them not to help her and to run, or else to end her life at once, because otherwise they would all die. He said the creature was implanting a seed, the Plagiarus praepotens, that would merge with her DNA and rapidly grow out of her as an XX121 Xenomorph. Bjorn refused to leave her behind. Rain then asked whether cryo fuel could freeze the root of the tail so that it would stop choking her.
The others froze the tail and unwound it from her neck. Then they pulled the Facehugger from her face, and Navarro woke gasping while Tyler told her she was all right. Rook did not share their relief. Asked for the odds, he put them at 60 to 40 against her, the chance that the creature had already finished its work. Navarro came around frightened and confused, with no idea what had been done to her.
Return To The Corbelan IV
Andy then told the group that they could not let Navarro back on the ship. Rook had urged him to help the humans take the cold and rational path. Bjorn took it as a threat, struck Andy with the shock device, and pulled Navarro and Kay back toward the hauler. Back aboard, he ordered Navarro to undock. She pulled the Corbelan IV away from the airlock and left Rain, Andy and Tyler behind on the station.
Over the radio, Rain begged Bjorn to come back for them. Bjorn refused until Rain shut Andy off, because he believed the synthetic had tried to kill Navarro. Navarro was by then visibly unwell, her face scraped and sweating at the controls. She said she just needed to get away from the airlock, then broke off mid-sentence. Kay asked whether she was all right and what she needed. Navarro could not answer her.
Death Aboard The Corbelan IV
Navarro turned the X-ray torch on her own chest, and its light showed a living shape behind her ribs. "Oh, my God, what is that?" Kay cried. Navarro collapsed into Kay's arms and began to convulse, foaming at the mouth. As she thrashed, her foot struck the controls. The uncontrolled hauler slammed into the Romulus hangar of the station. In the wreck, Navarro begged Kay, "Please don't let me die."
A Chestburster then broke through her ribs and killed her, covering Kay in blood. The crash had knocked the station off its axis, cutting the time before it hit the rings from about a day and a half to under an hour. The newborn grew into the Scorched Xenomorph. When Bjorn attacked it in its cocoon, its acid blood killed him. Kay then woke to see the creature dragging the bodies of Navarro and Bjorn into the vents.
Personality And Traits
Navarro was the group's pilot, and she handled the Corbelan IV with ease, from the launch to matching the derelict's roll and catching the ejected pods. She was dry and confident at the controls, and she kissed the pendant on her necklace before take-off. She knew Bjorn well enough to explain his hatred of synthetics to Rain. Her curiosity showed when she found the X-ray torch, tested it on her own hand, and kept it.
She also showed fear. At the Facehugger room she begged Rain not to open the door, afraid that the creatures would get out. After the removal she was shaken and confused, and she went with Bjorn when he forced his way back to the hauler. Undocking on his order split the group, and the seizure that followed sent the Corbelan into the Romulus hangar, a crash that cut short the station's remaining time.
Behind The Scenes
Aileen Wu played Navarro in Alien: Romulus, directed by Fede Alvarez and written with Rodo Sayagues. The film opened on 16 August 2024 and is set in 2142, between Alien and Aliens. It was Wu's first major film role, and she had not seen the original Alien until she got the audition notice. All three of her audition scenes made the final cut, including the moment the Facehugger is pulled from her face. The script gave Navarro a mullet, but Alvarez asked her to shave her head on the spot, and Wu agreed. A real pilot walked her through the cockpit controls and the start-up sequence for the launch.
The main theatrical poster shows Navarro with a Facehugger locked onto her face. Wu spent several days with a puppet Facehugger, starting with wire work for the attack. A puppeteer pumped its bladders off screen, and she matched her breathing to them. The Chestburster scene took about three days in the raised Corbelan set, with her body in a hole cut into the cockpit floor and a hollow prosthetic chest attached at her collarbone so Alec Gillis's team could push the puppet through. They filmed the burst twenty to thirty times with mouth foam of lemon juice, vinegar and baking soda. Isabela Merced helped her through the repeated takes.
Famous Quotes
- "I told you she'd show up. You owe me five bucks."
- "Okay. I'm gonna match its roll."
- "It's just the belt's a bit closer than I thought."
- "It's 36 hours, give or take."
- "Yeah, okay, Mom."
- "Those things will get out."
- "I just need to get away from this airlock right now."
- "Please don't let me die."
Conclusion
Navarro was the Jackson's Star pilot who tracked the Renaissance beacon and flew her friends to the station. She caught the ejected pods, crossed into the station with Rain, and became the first of the group seized by a Facehugger. Her friends got it off her face, but too late to stop the embryo. Back on the Corbelan IV, a Chestburster killed her after her seizure crashed the hauler into the Romulus hangar. That crash shortened the station's life, and the creature born from her went on to kill Bjorn.
Appearances
- Alien: Romulus (2024)
External Sources
- Alien: Romulus on IMDb
- Aileen Wu on IMDb
- Alien: Romulus at 20th Century Studios
- Aileen Wu on the Facehugger scene and theatrical poster (Forbes)
Tag Categories: Alien Universe Characters | Alien Romulus Lore | Alien Lore
