the Space Jockeys that Ripley and the Nostromo crew found on LV-426.

Since Alien: Romulus' Offspring hybrid is one of the biggest, as the new human xenomorph merges multiple forms into one. This includes the Engineers, thanks to the origin of the alien. That puts an Alien: Romulus sequel in a position to address what happened to the white humanoid aliens after Scott's prequels.

The Offspring Connects Alien: Romulus To The Engineers

The Offspring Shares Some Similarity Traits To Engineers

Kay's baby in Alien: Romulus, known as the Offspring, is how the movie connects to Prometheus' Engineers. She is pregnant with Bjorn's child, who would have been born as a normal human under usual circumstances. Kay's injuries led her to inject herself with the Z-01 Prometheus black goo, as it was shown to have healing abilities in test subject videos. What Kay and everyone else did not know is that it would mutate her child, giving it the pale white skin of the Engineers and several characteristics of the xenomorphs, all while maintaining a human appearance overall.

The Offspring does not look exactly like the Engineers, as its bony appearance and xenomorph qualities morph its look to become something completely new. That does not stop the similarities to the Engineers from being evident. The reason why the Offspring looks like the Engineers is due to the Z-01 compound containing the black goo created from the franchise's original xenomorph. The Engineers were responsible for creating the xenomorphs, using them as biological weapons initially. They created them using a different, mystery black liquid than the black goo shown in Alien: Romulus.

Prometheus included the black goo Chemical A0-3959X.91-1, but Alien: Romulus' black goo is known as Z-01

However, that link between the Engineers, humanity, and the xenomorphs gives the Offspring its connection to the extraterrestrial race. The Engineers' methods for creating life are likely similar regardless of the intended outcome, such as creating xenomorphs or humans. So if the Engineers used a black liquid to create xenomorphs and themselves to create humanity, the black goo extracted from Big Chap retroactively bringing out some Engineer qualities in a human makes sense. It appears that exposing Kay's human baby to the black goo unlocked some of humanity's innate Engineer similarities, resulting in the Offspring's appearance in Alien: Romulus.

Ridley Scott's Alien Movies Never Addressed What Happened To The Engineers

The Engineers Fate Is Unknown

The Engineers may have been part of the Alien franchise since the beginning, but their existence and importance was not explored beyond that point until Prometheus. Ridley Scott made the prequels to expand the mythology and build greater connections to the original movie, and the Engineers were a prime example of this. The 2012 film showed why Engineers were so important to the franchise overall, but it failed to resolve what happened to them after. As far as Prometheus goes, it's unclear if there are still more of the Engineers out in the cosmos or if they are already extinct.

Alien: Covenant does not help answer what happened to the Engineers between Prometheus and Alien. Although the movie shows David wiping out an entire race that looks similar to Engineers on Planet 4, it's not clear if those were meant to be the last of the species or just one city on a single planet that they populate across the galaxy. The mystery of whether the Engineers are completely extinct by the time Alien, and by extension Alien: Romulus, happens continues to loom large as a result.

It is known that Ridley Scott's canceled Alien: Covenant sequel was meant to include the Engineers in a prominent role, allowing him to lead up to the Space Jockeys in Alien more directly. This suggests that there are at least still some Engineers alive by the time Alien: Covenant ends. However, that still does not clarify if the entire race has been wiped out by the time of Alien: Romulus - indicating that Alien's Space Jockey was the last one - or if they are still lurking in the cosmos and experimenting with creating more forms of life.

Alien: Romulus' Sequel Could Explain The Status Of The Engineers

The Fate Of The Engineers Needs To Be Resolved

With Alien: Romulus tying itself to Ridley Scott's prequels, there is a chance that the sequel could provide an update on the Engineers. This would be entirely dependent on how the story is meant to progress and what Rain and Andy encounter upon getting to Yvaga III. There are already theories that Alien: Romulus' sequel could conclude Ridley Scott's prequel story and have this new planet be where David and the Engineers' story came to a close too. Rain and Andy could then find evidence for the Engineers' existence and ultimate fate.

It would be smart fo the Alien: Romulus sequel to explain the Engineers' fate too. This remains one of the biggest questions the franchise has still yet to answer, and it will only continue to loom over further installments the longer it goes unanswered. Alien: Romulus 2 could get this out of the way by explaining that the Engineers are extinct through some key discovery or go the opposite direction and heavily tie the humanoid aliens into Rain and Andy's future.

How The Engineers Could Return In Alien: Romulus' Sequel

As for how the Engineers could come back in an Alien: Romulus sequel, that also depends on exactly how the story unfolds after Alien: Romulus' ending. If Yvaga III is secretly the current or past home of a colony of Engineers, Rain and Andy will uncover new information about them upon their arrival. If the new planet is ultimately where David wound up instead of making it to Earth, he could even provide an update about his adventures and encounters with the Engineers after Alien: Covenant. This could depend on Ridley Scott's new Alien movie plans and story.

There's also the option for Alien: Romulus' sequel to handle the Engineers in a similar way as Prometheus did. The movie could have a cold open exploring some of the Engineers' history that ultimately connects to the separate story that Álvarez wants to tell around Rain and Andy. That might not bring about the resolution of their story, but it could help provide new details about their existence and whereabouts nonetheless. After all, if Yvaga III is meant to be a paradise for humanity beyond Weyland-Yutani's control, the Engineers having a hand in forming it would make sense.