Roughly a week ago, Ridley Scott’s Alien universe was showing faint signs of life. This week, though, Covenant star Katherine Waterston isn’t even sure the franchise has a pulse.
Six days ago, Scott revised his vivisection of the titular creature from last November, stating that he’s no longer keen on replacing he and H.R. Giger’s spawn. The discourse, however infinitesimal it may be, at the very least indicated that the Alien universe was still clinging to existence. Now, though, Waterston has put a damper on the franchise’s once promising future.
In an interview with Metro, the actress disclosed that she hasn’t “heard anything in ages” regarding a possible sequel to Covenant.
“I have no idea. I always feel as though the actors are the last to know. But I also feel as though I could have a great deal to do in that film, or just be rolled out in a body bag. I had heard some rumours about where it might go a long time ago that were really interesting to me and my character. But I haven ’t heard anything in ages.”
Given the status of her and Danny McBride’s characters at the end of Scott’s 2017 film, it’s a distinct possibility that Waterston could be killed offscreen akin to Naomi Rapace in Covenant in future series installments. Something that she’s apparently aware of, judging by her “body bag” remark.
Still, Waterston’s comment isn’t all that surprising given the divisive reception of both Prometheus and Covenant. Neither film managed to haul in a box office total that would warrant future installments, and neither was able to stimulate the franchise’s fanbase unanimously successfully. As a result, the Xenomorph has been banished to a limbo-like void on 20th Century Fox’s back-burner – at least temporarily.
Sure, Scott has gone on record saying he’d like to explore the type of world artificial intelligence would create within the Xenomorph universe, and while Covenant indeed set up that premise, it doesn’t look like Alien: Awakening will be entering production anytime soon.
