We Think We Finally Know Which Alien: Romulus Scene Was Too Gross For The Cast

Contains spoilers for "Alien: Romulus"

"Deadpool & Wolverine's" top spot at the box office has finally been stolen, and it's thanks to what might be one of the ickiest sci-fi movies of the year. Following an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score (even with that very divisive cameo), Fede Álvarez's "Alien: Romulus" has turned heads and burst chests as the latest addition to the "Alien" franchise. But there was one scene in this scary story from outer space that even the cast and crew struggled with. In fact, if you made it through to the film's final gristly act, you can probably guess which one it was.

Back in February, before the screams in space started to fill the theaters again, Isabela Merced spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about a sequence she was a part of that had even those behind the camera looking the other way. Making sure not to go into specifics about the sequence, Merced shared, "There's a scene that I'm in, and they all had to turn away. Not one person stayed looking at that iPad because it was so disgusting." We don't need to place Álvarez's creature feature under the microscope for too long to figure out which scene she's referring to, given that her character, Kay, probably has the least amount but most impactful screen time in the whole film.

After being rescued from the clutches of the xenomoprhs, Kay throws herself into even greater danger when she injects herself with the fluid from "Prometheus," hoping it will heal her injuries. Instead, it alters and speeds up her pregnancy, leading her to give birth to a human-xenomorph hybrid that appears to grow to maturity as soon as it arrives. The sequence is excruciating to watch and a testament to Fede Álvarez as a director to throw in a real showstopper for the film's final act while refreshing the nightmarish trope that is integral to the franchise.

Since 1979, audiences have associated this series of films with a body horror element that puts a twisted perspective on the nature of childbirth. A creature is always going to be born from someone's body, and in Álvarez's new take, he brings the terror of the xenomorph closer to that allegory than it's ever been. It's understandable, then, that while shooting this sequence, both cast and crew did their best to avoid watching what was happening as best they could. This 'birth' feels almost more demonic than a science-based abomination. But what proved to be a surprise for Álvarez himself was the association some viewers — including his own son — have made with another chapter from the "Alien" saga as opposed to the one he intended to reference.

In a spoiler-filled breakdown of some of the film's most jaw-dropping moments, Fede Álvarez told Variety that while he only had harkening back to "Prometheus" in mind with his monster, his own son saw something other than that movie's marble-like extraterrestrials in the Offspring. "He had recently watched with a buddy of his all of the 'Alien' movies, and when the offspring comes out, he goes, 'It's like in "Resurrection."'" The discovery was a bit of a shock to the filmmaker, who said he didn't have that much-maligned sequel in mind when shooting his movie. "I hadn't really processed that that way — but it's true, it's this abomination that comes out. I was hoping that people picked up the whole Engineer part of it."

It's certainly the most horrid highlight of the entire film and an impressive feat to have it strike out on screen as the franchise's newest villain while paying homage to its predecessors, even if it was unintentional. The challenge now, though, rests with FX's "Alien: Earth," a show set to arrive in 2025 that will make its mark as the first television series to explore the xenomorph mythology. We can only imagine whether it'll be able to top the recent blood-chilling debut of the Offspring. On second thought, maybe we'd prefer not to imagine that at all.