Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Alien: Romulus!

Despite the Weyland-Yutani Corporation being the overarching villains of the Alien franchise, their plan is a bit confusing in Alien: Romulus, with many viewers not knowing what they actually wanted. In most of the Alien movies, the fact that Weyland-Yutani is behind the troubles that they are in usually comes as a twist to the characters, although the audience already knows about the company’s antagonistic history. However, there is usually still some motivation to be pieced together, with Weyland-Yutani having an all-new plan in the story of Alien: Romulus.

Despite taking place between Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus features an all-new cast of characters who are participating in an all-new story. This time, Rain, Andy, and the rest of the gang are attempting to escape a Weyland-Yutani mining colony and fly to a planet known as Yvaga III that has banned the corporation. However, the characters have to break into a Weyland-Yutani laboratory known as the Romulus before doing so. This leads to the Weyland-Yutani Corporation severely complicating their plans, with the characters having to discover what the company’s true motivations are.

Weyland-Yutani Wanted The Original Xenomorph To Help Humanity Evolve

That’s Why They Have Big Chap

Alien: Romulus opens on a pretty terrifying scene, with it featuring a group of faceless Weyland-Yutani scientists scouring the wreckage of the Nostromo. It then shows them experimenting on a black cocoon, with them welding it open. Although it isn’t immediately apparent what they are up to, the audience is soon cued in on the terrifying revelation that this cocoon actually contains the original Xenomorph from the first Alien movie.

It is eventually revealed that Weyland-Yutani intentionally sought out the Xenomorph’s cocoon, with them having some terrifying plans for the monster. Their goal is to experiment on the Xenomorph, with the company believing that it is the perfect lifeform. They hope to use the Xenomorph to help humanity evolve further, although how they know that this is possible isn’t really explained. It is possible that this ties into the knowledge that Weyland-Yutani gained in the prequel movies, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, with this being their overarching franchise plan.

Unfortunately, things don’t go quite as well as the company had hoped. Shortly after breaking the Xenomorph out of its cocoon, it wakes up and attacks the scientists. Big Chap (the nickname for the original Alien Xenomorph) kills almost every human on board the space station, with it eventually being killed before its acid blood decimates the ship. Thus, Weyland-Yutani’s plans to evolve humanity with the Xenomorph aren’t fully carried out, although they do make a major step forward before the untimely deaths of the scientists.

Rook Tried To Get The Black Goo Back To Weyland-Yutani In Alien: Romulus

That Is His Prime Directive

In their attempts to evolve humanity, the Romulus scientists extracted the black goo known as Prometheus Fire from the Xenomorph, with this being a substance that was first introduced in Prometheus. This black goo immediately evolves almost any lifeform that it comes into contact with, although it can have some disastrous and deadly results. The black goo is what David used to create the Xenomorph after the events of Alien: Covenant, with the scientists being able to get their own sample while experimenting on the Xenomorph in Alien: Covenant.

However, Big Chap’s rampage meant that the black goo was stuck on the Romulus space station, with it hurdling toward the rings of the planet LV-410. Although the vials of black goo were seemingly doomed, they had another chance at survival upon Rain waking the synthetic Rook up. Upon awakening, Rook attempted to carry out his prime directive of getting the goo back to Weyland-Yutani. However, this plan failed, with Alien: Romulus ending with the black goo on board Rain and Andy’s ship, with it heading to a planet that is nine years away known as Yvaga III.

Weyland-Yutani’s Ultimate Goal Is To Improve Humanity For Space Colonization

So That They Can Have More Efficient Workers

Despite carrying these plans out in pretty villainous ways, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation’s ultimate goal is to improve humanity for space colonization. Weyland-Yutani is a massive conglomerate, with its various branches covering a variety of fields such as mining, research, development, weapons manufacturing, and most importantly, colonization. Throughout the franchise, plenty of planets that have been colonized by Weyland-Yutani can be seen, such as Alien: Romulus‘ Jackson’s Star mining colony that exits on the planet LV-410. This is just one of many planets that Weyland-Yutani uses to increase their profits, with their grasps reaching into the far corners of space.

However, Weyland-Yutani’s colonization plans have one problem: the limits of humanity. Despite being well-suited for life on Earth, humans are not adapted at all to the various terrains and climates that can be found on entirely different planets. So, even if Weyland-Yutani finds a planet that can support life, it may not be ideal for worker retention. For example, Jackson’s Star has a problem of humans getting sick due to the high pollution and lack of sunlight. Thus, Weyland-Yutani wants to use the black goo to turn humans into employees who can efficiently work on any planet in the Alien universe.

How Weyland-Yutani’s Goal In Alien: Romulus Connects To Aliens

They Still Want To Catch A Xenomorph

After losing control of the Xenomorph in Alien: Romulus, Weyland-Yutani decided to again attempt to catch a Xenomorph in the timeline’s next story, Aliens. In Aliens, it is eventually revealed that Burke has been secretly attempting to catch a Xenomorph for Weyland-Yutani. First, Burke instructed the colonists to investigate the Xenomorph eggs, creating the infestation that serves as the main conflict in Aliens. Then, it is revealed that Burke wanted to implant Ripley and News with Xenomorph eggs, allowing him to smuggle them back to Weyland-Yutani.

Luckily, Ripley manages to foil Burke’s plan, setting Weyland-Yutani’s greatest aspirations back once again. However, a corporation as massive as Weyland-Yutani can’t be held back by a single individual for long. It is likely that the corporation got its hands on another Xenomorph sample not long after the events of Aliens, with this being implied in Alien: Resurrection. The Alien franchise hasn’t seen Weyland-Yutani’s human evolution plan come to fruition yet, but the black goo’s existence does serve as a major loose end by the time that credits roll on Alien: Romulus.