The Ending Of Alien: Romulus Explained

Contains spoilers for "Alien: Romulus"

1979's "Alien" isn't just a great horror flick, it's one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. Director Ridley Scott utilized a simple premise to maximum effect, with a deadly extraterrestrial threat coming aboard a space vessel filled with astronauts and causing havoc. The claustrophobic setting along with a stellar creature design from H.R. Giger created an instant classic that continues to terrify to this day. Scott would return to the franchise to expand the mythology with "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant," but now, the reins have been handed off to Fede Álvarez. The Uruguayan filmmaker has taken the series back to its roots with "Alien: Romulus," which features a small cast in primarily one location, trapped with the perfect organism. 

The first reactions to "Alien: Romulus" were incredibly promising, with many people praising the tension as well as the performances from Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson, who play orphan Rain and her android brother Andy, respectively. There are also copious references to previous installments in the franchise, which is bound to delight long-time fans who want to see how "Romulus" fits within the series' greater framework. "Romulus" takes place between the events of "Alien" and "Aliens," but the finale may just change the game when it comes to any future sequels or spinoffs. So what really happens at the end of "Alien: Romulus," and what was that ... thing? We've got the answers.

Rain Carradine is a disillusioned young worker on a mining colony overseen by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. After realizing she'll spend much of her life on this desolate planet, some cohorts come to her with a proposition. There's an abandoned space station flying overhead that they can grab cryo chambers from, so that they can fly to another planet to actually live their lives. They just need Rain's brother Andy, a synthetic human, to access the station's tech. The siblings agree to see what else might be out there.

After securing the cryo chambers, Andy, Tyler (Archie Renaux), and Bjorn (Spike Fearn) become trapped in a room quickly warming up, thereby thawing out some of the specimens the previous crew had apprehended. These are, of course, Facehuggers, and we quickly see why they're scarier than full-blown Xenomorphs. One attaches itself to Navarro (Aileen Wu), and it isn't long until it bursts through her chest, resulting in a brand new Xenomorph running amok, with Bjorn and the pregnant Kay (Isabela Merced) attempting to escape. They're separated from the others, who speak with a torn-apart synthetic: Science Officer Rook (a digitally-created Ian Holm).

Rook informs them of how the previous crew developed a black ooze (as seen in "Prometheus") to heal Weyland-Yutani workers so that they can continue performing labor, but it has transformative and terrifying properties. Despite Andy getting a new chip containing the directive of doing what's best for Weyland-Yutani, which makes him less than helpful at times, he eventually comes around, allowing Rain to put him back to his original programming. It's just in time for a thrilling and chest-pounding conclusion.

Rain shoots her way through a bunch of Xenomorphs, and, thanks to an assist from Andy, it seems like our heroes are in the clear, with the siblings and Kay getting back on their original vessel to fly to a new colony. There's just one hiccup — Kay injected herself with some of the black ooze as she was waiting for Rain and Andy to get back. This creates complications with her pregnancy, and she soon gives birth to a pod-like structure. The thing inside hatches quickly, and the survivors soon come face-to-face with a creature known as the Offspring. It looks like a cross between a Xenomorph and an Engineer from "Prometheus," likely a result of Xenomorph DNA mixing with the human embryo in Kay.

The Offspring kills Kay and severely wounds Andy. Rain is the only one left, resulting in a chilling game of cat-and-mouse. Luckily, she has one ace left up her sleeve. She lures the Offspring into the cargo bay, which gets released from the main ship, though the creature isn't so easily evaded. The Offspring tries to break Rain's helmet with its second mouth, though, finally, Rain manages to send the beast flying through space to its demise.

In what could be seen as a callback to the ending of 1979's "Alien," Rain sends out a message, referring to herself as the lone survivor of her crew. She places Andy in a cryo pod, stating how she'll try to fix him when she can, so there may be hope for him yet. The vessel sets out on a journey that will hopefully end well for Rain.

By the end of "Alien: Romulus," Rain and Andy (only barely in his case) are the only survivors. Andy's original directive was to do what's best for Rain. After he gets the upgrade on the space shuttle, his new directive is to do what's best for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. By the end, Rain has instructed him to do what's best for both of them. It's a full circle moment of sibling dynamics, and that was very much intentional from Fede Álvarez. 

In an interview with Digital Spy, the director spoke about how sibling relationships were intentionally front and center. "There's many themes in the movie, but one of them is what it means to be someone's sibling, what it truly means," he explained. "What are your responsibilities for that? Do you have any or not?" Tyler and Kay are also brother and sister, and we see some of the dynamic play out between them, with Tyler desperately trying to protect Kay. Sadly, they both die horrifically. If you know your Roman mythology, then you won't have been surprised by this theme going in.

The tale of Romulus and Remus – the names of separate modules of the Renaissance space shuttle — is that of two brothers who quarreled over where to found Rome, ending with Romulus killing Remus. "Alien: Romulus" mirrors this to an extent, with Andy not caring what happens to Rain when he gets a new directive. After he reverts back to his old programming, he becomes far more loving, with the movie establishing that siblings do, in fact, have a responsibility to care for one another, but that each person also needs to look after themselves.

Horror movies often manage to capture the zeitgeist and what real people are fearing at that particular moment in time. In 2024, it's apparent that there's a lot of trepidation surrounding pregnancy and motherhood. Films like "Immaculate" and "The First Omen" leaned into this, as did "American Horror Story: Delicate." This may not come as a surprise since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, jeopardizing the health of many women as several states made it difficult if not impossible to seek out an abortion. Horror in 2024 appears to represent the fear of those women who may be forced to give birth by an uncaring system, and "Alien: Romulus" continues that trajectory. 

Kay is pregnant and, despite the father being unknown to us (he's only referred to as an "a**hole"), she seems okay with the prospect of being a mother. Of course, everything goes sideways when she gives birth to the hideous Offspring, resulting in other changes to her body, like her breasts secreting a black ooze that the Offspring appears to feed on at one point. Of course, themes of motherhood aren't new in the "Alien" franchise.

"Aliens" sees Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) become a surrogate mother figure for Newt (Carrie Henn), and the computer system aboard the ships in the series is MU/TH/UR, called "Mother" by the characters. The movies center on the reproductive cycle of the Xenomorph, with the Facehuggers basically impregnating human hosts for a Xenomorph to then kill them and grow larger. "Aliens" may offer an optimistic viewpoint on developing a good relationship with one's mother, but, otherwise, the process of giving birth in the world of the films has horrifying implications. 

The "Alien" franchise is known for having some brutal kills, and "Romulus" doesn't skimp in that department. Navarro has the Xenomorph burst through her chest, while Bjorn gets the creature's acid blood dripped on him. Things really begin ramping up toward the end of "Alien: Romulus," and Fede Álvarez intentionally wanted to save some of the most cold-blooded moments for the finale. In another Digital Spy interview, the director mentioned wanting some disturbing deaths and to upend the audience's expectations.

"It gets very brutal," Álvarez stated. "That's the beauty of it. If you've seen my other movies, they have a lot of endings and I always feel like it's ending and it keeps going." If you've seen "Alien: Romulus," then you'll know that it's very much in that vein — viewers probably assumed that the film was wrapping up when the survivors got off the Romulus, but that's when the Offspring shows up. "We really crank it up towards the end, towards the last few minutes. When you think you've seen it and it's f***ed up, it hasn't even started."

That's no joke, as there's something genuinely upsetting about seeing the Offspring hunched over Kay, feeding off her while her lifeless body dangles in its arms. This harrowing image from the end of "Alien: Romulus" is certainly seared into many people's minds now, and there's no going back. In some ways, the Offspring could be seen as a successor to the Newborn from "Alien: Resurrection," which is also a hybrid.

If you've seen previous "Alien" films (or pretty much any horror film, for that matter), then you probably weren't shocked to see most of the characters meet their end in "Alien: Romulus." As stated previously, Navarro, Bjorn, Tyler, and Kay all meet gruesome demises. Science Officer Rook, the synthetic who tries to make sure the black ooze makes it out of the Romulus, doesn't really care if he lives or dies; he just wants to fulfill his directive. When Rain disables the autopilot on the vessel they took to get to the Romulus, Rook is helpless and gets destroyed along with the rest of the ship when it collides with the planet's ring field. 

The only death that's a little up in the air by the end of the film is Andy's. It would appear the Offspring killed him outright, but Rain puts his body inside a cryo pod and promises to do what she can to bring him back. Seeing as he's a synthetic human, one might imagine there's a way to repair him or at least transfer his consciousness (if you can call it that) into another body. It almost feels like a cheat code to bring Andy back for a sequel, but it wouldn't be beyond the realm of believability. That being said, if they want to focus solely on Rain, a future movie could simply state that he was beyond repair. The door remains open. Either way, we can consider Rain as the newest final girl in this beloved horror franchise.

When explaining the entire "Alien" movie saga, "Romulus" exists as a sort of interquel. It takes place in the year 2142, 20 years after the events of "Alien" and several decades before "Aliens" occurs. Ripley still exists in cryostasis in the film, but that doesn't matter, because we're following a new group of characters. The film ends with the Offspring getting obliterated while Rain goes on her way to join another colony. A sequel could absolutely pick up with her when she reaches her destination, or something sinister could interrupt her voyage, putting her planned new life at risk. 

An "Alien: Romulus" sequel could definitely be on the cards, especially if the movie does well financially. Then again, it's possible the franchise could go in another direction altogether. "Romulus" might end up existing as a side story in the overarching scheme of this series while the next movie focuses on something else entirely, with a new crop of victims. Who knows, maybe we'll finally get the Neill Blomkamp "Alien" movie we never got to see now that there's renewed interest in the franchise.

Assuming "Alien: Romulus" has legs and can keep the momentum going, it should be a financial success, which would make the prospect of a sequel all the more enticing for studio execs. Initial signs are very positive: According to Variety, the film "is expected to rip into the box office with $28 million to $38 million in its first weekend of release. Rivals and independent tracking services are bullish on Disney and 20th Century's sci-fi sequel, though, believing that inaugural ticket sales could wind up closer to $40 million or $50 million."

It's an exciting time to be an "Alien" fan. In addition to a brand new movie, there's also an FX TV series in the works from Noah Hawley titled "Alien: Earth." If you disregard the "Alien vs. Predator" films (which we wouldn't blame you for), it will be the first entry in the franchise to visit our home planet. Those hoping for nods to the upcoming TV show in "Romulus" will have no doubt been disappointed, as there aren't any, and it seems that there won't be any connective tissue between the two, period.

Noah Hawley has confirmed that his "Alien" series will ignore elements of "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant." It's a stark cry from "Alien: Romulus," which leaned into those more divisive entries, including having a reference to a "Prometheus file" and the presence of the black goo that Weyland-Yutani is interested in. Hawley's stance isn't that surprising: For starters, "Alien: Earth" will take place 30 years before the events of "Alien." Seeing as "Romulus" is set 20 years after the events of that movie, the young characters we follow wouldn't have been born.

The only potential returning cast member could be Andy — or, at least, a different version of Andy, if his synthetic model was mass produced. Suffice to say, fans probably shouldn't expect to see "Romulus" references in "Alien: Earth." They're separated significantly both on the timeline and in literal lightyears within space. Plus, a description of "Alien: Earth" suggests it'll focus more on Weyland-Yutani wanting to develop advanced android creations. How exactly do Xenomorphs fit into that? We'll just have to wait and see. 

"Alien: Romulus" borrows much from previous installments, right down to Andy saying, "Get away from her, you b****," which Ripley popularized in "Aliens." However, the third act takes a massive swing by introducing the Offspring, a creature that looks like a mash-up of an Engineer from "Prometheus" and a Xenomorph. This makes sense given what we know from "Prometheus" — in that film, an Engineer ingests a black goo, causing its DNA to seed Earth and lay the foundation for humans to emerge. Humans are the by-product of Engineers, so that latent genetic structure may have come to the forefront when Kay gave birth to the creature. 

There's much we don't know about the Offspring and whether these types of creatures will factor later in the franchise, but its design did its job in terrifying audiences. A Reddit thread chronicling "Alien: Romulus" spoilers has several people praise the monster's design, including u/Chr1sg93, who wrote: "It actually haunted my mind a little in that unsettling way. Meaning it was definitely more impactful than the Newborn from Resurrection, which was just ugly and gross." Redditor u/F1-03neptune held a similar opinion, adding: "Absolutely disturbing Hybrid design. Thing's so freaking unsettling."

It appears no matter what folks think of "Alien: Romulus" as a whole, the Offspring is a highlight. Its introduction is a good way to help differentiate "Romulus" from other franchise entries, and it opens the door for the idea of human/Xenomorph crossbreeds being explored further.