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The Hollywood machine is powered by a strange mixture of money, creative vision, and – occasionally – an unpredictable amount of coincidence. Director Fede Alveraz recently revealed a full circle moment that almost feels unbelievable and ties an Alien: Romulus character to The Last of Us in a surprising way. Because when the universe wants something to happen, it will make it happen.

Minor spoilers for both Alien: Romulus and The Last of Us season two are ahead so be warned.

Fede Alveraz took to social media over the weekend to share the inspiration behind Kay, a pregnant woman in Alien: Romulus. As it turns out, Alveraz was playing The Last of Us Part II while writing the script for the latest Alien spinoff. “The story of a pregnant Dina made me think of having the character of Kay be pregnant too,” he explained to a fan.

But the coincidence goes a bit further than including a pregnant character in his film. “Then I cast Isabella Merced to play Kay… A year later she gets cast to play Dina on the HBO show… True story.”

So Fede Alveraz was inspired by Dina in The Last of Us Part II to include a pregnant character in Alien: Romulus. The woman he cast as that pregnant character, Isabella Merced, was later also cast as Dina, the character who directly influenced her Alien: Romulus character, in the live-action adaptation of The Last of Us. It is a really strange series of totally unrelated events unintentionally bringing the Alien franchise and The Last of Us into alignment.

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