Offspring

The Offspring was a Xenomorph–human hybrid creature born aboard the freighter USCSS Corbelan IV in 2142 after scavenger Kay Harrison injected herself with the mutagenic compound Z-01 and caused the unborn fetus inside her to mutate. The creature was eventually killed by fellow salvager Rain Carradine.

Characteristics

Born from a human fetus exposed to Z-01, a derivative of a mysterious alien pathogen, the Offspring gestated inside a cocoon resembling an ovomorph which was live–birthed from its parent. The creature then hatched from the cocoon, leaving a quantity of acidic fluid inside, and metamorphosed quickly. During its brief time as an infant, it bore an off-putting resemblance to a human baby.

Once grown, however, the Offspring took the form that held a resemblance to both a Xenomorph and an Engineer as a pale humanoid with biomechanical features. Despite being mere minutes old, the Offspring grew to a height close to, if not taller than the largest Engineers and non-Queen Xenomorphs. The creature's body was unnaturally thin and appeared severely misshapen, as its upper body was crooked and slanted to the right.

Sporting a long tail similar to a Xenomorph, the creature's back was covered with armor plates across the spine and the outlets for short, dorsal tubes. Visually, the face resembled an Engineer, with raised brow ridges, high nose bridge, pure black eyes, and a very pale body color. Its teeth were remarkably similar in shape to a human's, but had the same metallic sheen as the teeth found on Xenomorphs.

The hands and feet both sported very sharp, hooked claws. Similar to the secondary jaws of a Xenomorph, the Offspring had a retractable, toothed tongue with a central maw, albeit one that appeared more flexible and with a significantly less powerful bite. This "tongue" could be used to suckle from its progenitor or to attack its prey. With a mostly human-like face, the Offspring also possessed expressive facial features, including the ability to smile.

Despite its scrawny appearance, physically the hybrid was extremely powerful, able to easily bash down metal doors and disable a synthetic with a single slash of its claws. The attempt to grant humans similar survivability to the elements as Xenomorphs proved partially successful, as the hybrid did manage to survive the vacuum of space for a time and being abraded by asteroid cloud debris.

Due to the mutagenic properties of Z-01, combined with its young age and quick growth, the Offspring's body appeared to be undergoing constant changes, notably its tail, which grew to full-length in mere seconds.

History

During an effort to salvage vital equipment from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation space station Renaissance in 2142, a group of scavengers from the Jackson's Star mining colony encountered a Xenomorph infestation. During the chaos, group member Kay Harrison was captured and injured by one of the creatures and imprisoned in a local Hive. After being found and retrieved by companion Rain Carradine and her synthetic cohort Andy, Harrison injected herself with Z–01, a dangerous mutagenic compound that Carradine and her fellow scavengers had been ordered to retrieve by android science officer Rook. This led to Harrison giving birth to a human-xenomorph hybrid, rather than a human child or lone xenomorph.

After the group's vessel, the Corbelan IV, escaped the disintegrating station, Harrison was placed into stasis by Carradine; however, the Z–01 caused significant mutation within the unborn fetus she was carrying, causing the cryopod to trigger an alert. As the cryopod was opened by Carradine, Harrison gave birth to a cocoon containing the altered progeny. Carradine attempted to dispose of the cocoon in the ship's cargo bay, but was unable to reach it before the creature emerged and grew rapidly. The hybrid attacked and injured Andy and returned to suckle more Z–01 from Harrison, killing her, before once more engaging Carradine. Carradine lured the creature back into the cargo bay and successfully ejected the module, killing the hybrid.

Behind the scenes

The Offspring was portrayed by the former Romanian college basketball player Robert Bobroczkyi.^[1] Speaking with Collider, Fede Álvarez explained that he didn't want to create a CG creature and had to find the right person for the role. After learning about Robert Bobroczkyi, Alvarez sent an email to the 7'7" basketball player asking him if he would like to be in an Alien movie, which Bobroczyki was very excited about. The Offspring was mostly done using make-up, with the exception of the creature's tail which was CG.^[2]

The decision to include the Offspring was a point of contention at 20th Century Studios. According to Alvarez, this was a sign that he was "on the right track," as he'd received similar pushback during his work on Evil Dead and Don't Breathe. Some at 20th Century thought the sequence was "too much," to which Alvarez responded (paraphrased) "now I know that I will."^[3]

The existence of the Offspring was hinted at six months before the release of the film, where in an interview, Isabela Merced (who portrays Kay Harrison) mentioned a "disgusting scene" within the film. After the film's release, it was confirmed that the birth of the Offspring was the scene to which she was referring.^[3]

In early versions of Romulus, the Offspring molted as it grew, becoming more and more Xenomorph-like in process before turning into an actual Xenomorph.^[4] Another concept existed where the Offspring was multi-limbed and had wings.^[5]^[6]

In an interview with Variety regarding Offspring's design, Alvarez described the Black Goo as the root of all life, and just like the Xenomorphs, Engineers also came from it.^[7]

Appearances

Alien: Romulus

Trivia

The Offspring is similar to the Newborn, with both being a Xenomorph-human hybrid and also meeting a similar fate.
Álvarez has confirmed that Bjorn was the father of Kay's baby.^[8]