When the Covenant crew set off on their interstellar mission – to go where no human has gone before, as it were – Katherine Waterston and Co. are celebrated as pioneers for spearheading humanity’s first large-scale colonization mission.
If the doomed Prometheus expedition was considered an exploratory vessel by the nefarious Weyland Corp., then Ridley Scott’s latest, cutting-edge space boat – one that houses 2,000 innocent colonists frozen in cryo-stasis – is designed to catapult mankind to a nearby exoplanet deemed suitable for supporting life. It’s a relatively realistic premise for a sci-fi tentpole, and it’s one that will unfold in full via the imminent Alien: Covenant.
But in true Alien fashion, Ridley Scott’s prequel-sequel sees the Covenant ship take an unexpected detour to answer a far-flung distress call (!), and it’s at this point Alien: Covenant will hew close to the events of Prometheus and, in particular, Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Michael Fassbender’s David. The latter is one of two wildly different synthetics to feature in Covenant – the second being Walter, also played by Fassbender – though the red band clip above is more concerned with highlighting the moment in which the crew begin to realize that they’re up against an extra-terrestrial horror the likes of which they were never trained for. Forget the Chestburster; the Covenant’s breed of aliens (Neomorphs?) looks set to claw its way out through the human spine.
Alien: Covenant is, by its very nature, both a Prometheus sequel and a nerve-shredding prequel to Ridley Scott’s horror classic of ’79. At times, the franchise’s lore can be difficult to parse, but don’t worry; our own Sarah Myles dove deep into the archives of Weyland-Yutani to compile an essential guide to the Alien franchise.
Covenant slithers into theaters on May 19th.
