How one of 2024’s best sci-fi’s pulled off that shocking, franchise-altering ending

Stephen Porzio

JOE chatted with the maker of the excellent new blockbuster about its deliciously twisted climax and how it was accomplished. Obvious spoilers ahead.

It is no secret that we here at JOE were huge fans of Alien: Romulus, the latest entry in the legendary sci-fi horror franchise Alien.

And one element in particular we loved about it was its balls to the wall climax which, while harking back to previous entries in the series, also feels like a big step forward.

If you have not seen the blockbuster, now is the time to stop reading.

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Still here? Well, let’s break down that shocking franchise-altering moment in the climax.

The movie centres on a group of youngsters, including the recently orphaned woman Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her pregnant friend Kay (Isabella Merced), who attempt to pull off an ambitious heist of a spaceship to escape their dire circumstances.

In the process, however, they wind up running afoul of dozens of killer facehuggers.

Heading into the climax, Rain and a severely injured Kay are the last surviving members of the group.

While Rain attempts to get the pair to safety, Kay – alone and struggling with the pain – injects herself with an experimental compound derived from fluid extracted from the aliens – something which is said to have healing properties.

However, the formula has horrific side-effects – causing Kay to prematurely give birth to a monstrous, rapidly-aging human/xenomorph baby hybrid.

While humans and xenomorphs have been inextricably linked throughout the sci-fi horror series, this is the most human we’ve seen one of these creatures look to date – adding to the uncanny terror.

The monster winds up killing its mother before facing off with Rain for the final battle of the movie.

During our conversation with Alien: Romulus co-writer and director Fede Álvarez – in which he also spoke of his goal of bringing more “realistic, visceral” carnage to the franchise – he discussed the ending and how it was pulled off.

You can watch JOE’s full spoilery interview with the filmmaker right here and read his comments about the ending specifically below.

On the climax, Álvarez told JOE:

“I wanted to make sure [Romulus] added something. I mean, every good Alien movie brought something new to the franchise that wasn’t really part of the franchise before that, right? So, I knew that I was going to eventually [with] the story bring new things. I need to play the hits but we need to bring new things as well. So that was definitely one of them. What can be the most nightmarish last 10 minutes of a movie that would just hit the audience so hard?

“I think I could make a movie that is two hours long with that level of madness but you wouldn’t be able to take it. So I just save it for the last 10 minutes because I think that’s about the time that people can really take that level of intensity and madness.

“I’m really proud of how we did that [sequence and] also, the fact that [the hybrid] was a real performer with makeup. We found this performer that is a basketball player that’s 7’7” tall – almost double the height of the lead actor.

“So, it was something to see really. Every day on set you couldn’t believe his presence and he was just fascinating. The performer did such a good job to play this character and bring character to it and a personality. I was so happy to see that happen on the day.”