Fans lined up Friday at El Paso Comic Con as cast members from Aliens reunited for the film’s 40th anniversary. The group signed autographs, posed for selfies and spent the day meeting the people who still turn out for a movie released in 1986.

Ricco Ross, who played Private Frost, said it was remarkable that people were still talking about the movie four decades later. “It’s amazing that 40 years after a movie is made, people are still interested in the movie, [that] is still relevant,” Ross said. He said that is partly because James Cameron “was and is very ahead of his time,” pointing to the film’s idea that corporations would take over and its portrayal of women as “bad a**es.” “It doesn’t age itself,” he said.

Ross appeared alongside Carl Toop, who suited up as the Xenomorph, and other cast members who played the space marines: Michael Biehn, Jenette Goldstein, Mark Rolston, William Hope, Cynthia Scott and Daniel Kash. Together, they filled booths at the convention with fans eager for a quick photo or a signed item, turning the anniversary into a reunion that doubled as a live reminder of how durable the film has become.

The timing matters because the appearance came during the movie’s 40th anniversary celebrations, and the convention gave fans a chance to meet performers from both sides of the battle inside the 1986 sequel. Ahead of the event, KFOX14/CBS4 spoke with cast members about why the film still lands today, and Toop offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how the Xenomorph came together. He said the production auditioned more than 100 dancers, with roughly 150 people crammed into the studio during the process before the role came down to one person.

Toop said the costume was “an amazing costume” and helped strip away the human element from the monster. “We worked and tried to get rid of that human element in the monster,” he said. The suit also shaped how he moved. “You’ve got long hands, big feet and big heads-- that helps with your movement,” he said, adding that he built in reptile-like motion. The costume was taped in and assembled with makeup, and “the only thing they used to take off was my head sometimes to just let me eat or drink something,” he said.

The reunion showed that Aliens has not become a museum piece. Its practical effects, its ensemble cast and its blunt ideas about power still draw a crowd, and Friday’s appearance in El Paso made clear the film’s anniversary is not just a look back. It is proof that for a lot of fans, the movie never really left.