(SPOILERS) Alien: Romulus final act

Behind the scenes

https://x.com/fedalvar/status/1829607007751716969

Wait the Offspring is just a dude in a costume? I thought he was CGI monster!

Nope, they hired an actual alien. They wanted to find a really tall human for the role, but Fede is such a perfectionist so he insisted on hiring an actual alien.

(Dramatic sound effect)

lol good one, but seriously I didn't know that was practical effects since I'm so used to CGI for almost everything now days

Can you imagine how creepy it would've been to be on set with that! So much better than CGI.

Yeah, I think I would of had nightmares for real. Practical Effects FTW

seriously it's so amazing to know that OffSpring is not CGI. I love this movie more and more

Early Offspring Exploration by Santiago Vecino

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_ahFyQxpij/

The birth of an Engineer-Xenomorph Hybrid Baby was a flawed inclusion and felt like a desperate attempt to tie the film with Prometheus. Where the hell does an Engineer DNA come from?

The Black Goo does not contain Engineer DNA. It was originally manufactured by the Engineers on LV_223 as a bio-weapon, using the DNA of the Protomorph (the creature depicted on the mural). The Black Goo mutates infected hosts, imbuing them with the Protomorph's predatory attributes.

The Protomorph is the original creature with the same life cycle: Egg, Facehugger, Chestburster, Adult (as illustrated on the mural), and is the progenitor from which other creatures, like the Xenomorph, evolved. Every time a Facehugger impregnates a host, the resulting embryo adapts to the DNA of the host, carrying some of its characteristics—like the Runner in Alien 3 adapting to the DNA of a dog.

In Alien: Covenant, David used the same Black Goo to mutate cross-bred insect eggs, eventually creating the Xenomorph. The Black Goo also mutated fungi into spore-producing mushrooms, which impregnated hosts with Neomorph embryos.

And now, in Alien: Romulus, we have Rook deriving Black Goo from Facehugger blood, which then infects a pregnant woman, resulting in an Engineer Hybrid!   

It's simply laughable—if not downright ridiculous!

I see it as a lost opportunity. A version of the Ultramorph (a concept designed for an early draft of Prometheus) or the adult version of the Deacon could have been far more consistent and logical, while still being terrifying and unique.

Well thought out response. The_Foxcatcher! You raise a great point - the Engineer DNA being absent from the origin material. I hadn't considered this yet but now that you bring it up it does make the Offspring's Engineer like appearance all the more confusing.

I feel like the next film should revisit Prometheus and draw inspiration / direction from the concepts presented there. People can knock Ridley all they want (never understood why) but at least his concepts were coherent and flowed - open-ended sure, but not so convoluted they made no sense.

Ultramorph would've been sweet... that's one beast that continues to elude us. That and a film adaptation of a Praetorian.

A Xeno monster with long hair, LOL! I can't take it seriously.

Some more, this one by Col Price.

https://x.com/coldesign_ltd/status/1830859826722656279

A very Neomorph-looking Offspring design.

The engineer-likeliness is from the human DNA

Dark Nebula: That's a lot better

Offspring trading cards, shared by Fede.

As I suspected on my first viewing, the Offspring has 6 digits.

Some more by Brandon Gobey

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_dZd7CMXeZ/?img_index=1

More early Offspring Explorations by Stephen Molyneaux

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/YGKzPd

Juvenile Offspring explorations by the mighty Dane Hallett

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_si2f2z9FO/?img_index=1

Some more concept art by Dane Hallett of the Offspring depicts its skin falling off and turning into a Xenomorph, just like Mike mentioned in the rough cut he saw.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DAAHebiTdwN/?img_index=6

More by Dane Hallett, Offspring mutation

https://www.instagram.com/p/DANVIDmxH3z/?img_index=6