What Alien Romulus' Most Unexpected Creature Looks Like In Real Life

This article contains major spoilers for "Alien: Romulus."

Ridley Scott's "Alien" from 1979 is one of the most important films ever made: a gripping sci-fi horror film about the crew of the commercial star freighter Nostromo, who investigate an alien distress call only to be attacked by a grotesquely sexual nightmare creature that spawns a gigantic being known as the Xenomorph. Given the infancy of digital effects at the time, the Xenomorph was played by Nigerian visual artist Bolaji Badejo. Standing 6'10" and donning an impressive suit modeled after the designs of H.R. Giger, the practicality of the Xenomorph suit put the creature right in front of the actors, adding to the fear factor while also showcasing a masterclass in monster FX.

6'2" special effects supervisor Tom Woodruff Jr. donned the Xenomorph suit for several "Alien" sequels beginning with "Aliens," but when Ridley Scott returned to the franchise with "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant," the creatures were mostly created with CGI. There's no denying the importance of both films, particularly "Prometheus," to the "Alien" canon as a whole. Still, many fans felt disconnected from the visceral horror of the aliens given how, well, fake they looked. Fortunately, there was plenty of existential horror to go around to compensate for the lack of tangible terrors, but lovers of the practical effects that gave nightmares to a generation were most certainly missing that special spark.

Fede Álvarez is the latest to helm a film in the series, with "Alien: Romulus" serving as a sidequel set between the events of "Alien" and James Cameron's "Aliens." The film centers on a group of space colonizers who scavenge a dilapidated space station only to come face to face with the station's research — using Xenomorphs for human experimentation. Álvarez also utilized men in monster suits, casting extremely tall actors to return the series to its practical roots.

6'7" Trevor Newlin (pictured above) was cast to play the Xenomorph in "Alien: Romulus," and he's no stranger to creature performing. He appeared in the teaser trailers for both "American Horror Story: Double Feature" and "The Walking Dead Survivors" (as a ghastly vampire and undead walker, respectively). He also appeared as a Yeti in ads for Amazon Prime delivery, the Strawman in "The Dark World of Oz," and a shadowy figure in Maisy Kay's music video for the song "Blood Filled Tears." Playing a Xenomorph is undoubtedly Newlin's biggest role yet, and should hopefully bring him more roles moving forward.

But the actor "Alien" fans can't stop talking about is Robert Bobroczkyi (pictured below), the Romanian former college basketball player who is one of the tallest living people on the planet. Standing 7'7" tall, Bobroczkyi (often spelled as Bobróczky) plays the creature known as the Offspring, the alien/human/Engineer hybrid birthed by the character Kay (Isabela Merced) after the pregnant girl injects herself with a serum extracted from the black goo introduced in "Prometheus."

Born into a tall family, Bobroczkyi's father is 7'1" Hungarian-born former Romanian international basketball player Zsigmond Bobróczky and 6'1" Brunhilde Bobróczky, a former volleyball and handball player. By the time Bobroczkyi was 12 years old, he had surpassed his father in height at 7'2".

Traditionally, extremely tall actors are the result of medical conditions like Marfan syndrome — as is the case with "Mama," "It," and "The Conjuring 2" star Javier Botet (who also provided motion capture for "Alien: Covenant" — but all reports indicate Bobroczkyi's height is the result of healthy genetics from two very tall parents. It was also reported that he wears a size 17 shoe, but is also underweight as a result of his impressive height.

Bobroczkyi moved to the United States in 2016 and attended high school in Ohio before joining Rochester Christian University in Rochester Hills, Michigan for the 2021-2022 basketball season. Footage of his exceptional height went viral on TikTok, and the online basketball community quickly became obsessed with his gigantic stature. He's been shared on ESPN and countless analysis videos about his height. For reference, Bobroczkyi is an inch taller than former NBA player Yao Ming.

"Alien: Romulus" is Bobroczkyi's first film role, and although the character of the Offspring doesn't have any lines, the physicality he brought to the role is extremely impressive. His height is intimidating on its own, but with the addition of practical prosthetics and CGI enhancements to appear more extra-terrestrial, it could be argued that Bobroczkyi brought more terror than even the Xenomorph. At the very least, the Offspring is responsible for one of the biggest scares in the whole film, and if Bobroczkyi desires a career in creature work, "Alien: Romulus" makes for one heck of a calling card. Álvarez has not yet revealed how he came across Bobroczkyi to cast him for the role, but chances are, it wouldn't have happened without the viral footage of his basketball career drawing in millions of views.

"Alien: Romulus" is now playing in theaters everywhere.