Looks like the beast isn’t quite done (or cooked) after all; more than two years on from the moment when Ridley Scott swore off Xenomorphs seemingly for good – “I got lucky meeting H.R. Giger all those years ago. It’s very hard to repeat that,” the director said at the time – the first teaser trailer for Alien: Covenant has clawed its way online promising a new breed of galactic horror. And there’s a real, exciting emphasis on horror here.
Staying true to Michael Fassbender’s previous comments about the prequel’s scare factor, this is an intense, nerve-shredding peek at what is arguably one of the most anticipated films of 2017. It’s been a long time coming, too, after 20th Century rolled out a series of chilling images (see below) that depicted everything from Colonial Marines hunting down some unseen enemy, a very familiar, serpentine corridor and carnage in what we assume to be the ship’s med-lab.
As for this first teaser trailer, it certainly does an effective job of setting the tone. Make no mistake about it, Ridley is going to be using his R rating to full effect here, as the footage teases some truly terrifying and bloody scenes and promises to take the series back to its survival horror roots. We don’t get very much at all, if anything in terms of plot, but we’re quite alright with that. After all, in a cinematic climate where trailers so often spoil the best parts of the film, it’s refreshing to have a preview that doesn’t give anything away, don’t you think?
Covenant stars Katherine Waterston as the Ripley-esque Daniels, Danny McBride, Billy Crudup, Demian Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Jussie Smollett, Amy Seimetz, two Michael Fassbenders and James Franco in the role of Branson. He’s said to be both the captain of Covenant and husband to Waterston’s Daniels, though we understand the actor holds a minor role in Scott’s 2017 prequel.
Alien: Covenant will slither into theatres on May 19, 2017. It’s one of two Ridley Scott classics poised to continue next year, what with the Denis Villeneuve-directed Blade Runner 2049 penciled in for October 6.
Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world — whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David, survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.
