The journey to paradise begins in hell, or so says the nightmare-inducing new poster for Alien: Covenant. But that’s not exactly the case, is it? In Ridley Scott’s universe, that intergalactic journey can be traced back to LV-223, the arid planet that played host to most of Prometheus five whole years ago.
By the time the credits rolled on Scott’s prequel, Elizabeth Shaw and the towering synthetic known as David – Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender, respectively – had hijacked the last remaining Juggernaut ship as a means of traveling to the far-flung home world of the Engineers. How exactly that factors into the storyline of Alien: Covenant, Ridley Scott’s imminent prequel-sequel, has so far remained a mystery – until now, at least. The illustrious filmmaker was in attendance at Fox’s CinemaCon panel to offer up a preview of Covenant along with a new reel of footage – footage that seemingly uncovers the connective tissue between Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Coming to us by way of The Playlist, this report is riddled with spoilers for the film’s opening, so consider this your final warning!
If The Playlist’s impressions piece is any indication, Alien: Covenant will begin right around the time when Prometheus ended, as the footage screened at CinemaCon showed David’s ship arriving on the Engineers’ home world. Rather than making first contact, though, Michael Fassbender’s unruly AI unleashes hellfire on the unsuspecting masses in the form of the sickeningly familiar black ooze, seeding the creation of hundreds (thousands?) or Xenomorphs.
The sneak began with the spacecraft from the last film arriving at the Engineers’ home world. Surprised, startled or curious about this ship’s arrival, hundreds of Engineers have gathered in what looks like a Roman or Greek coliseum for the ship to dock. As the Engineers look on, the base of the ship opens and we find David walking on a deck. He looks ragged, but fully operational in a complete body. Then, as the Engineer population looks on, a mass of black bombs fall from David’s ship. The crowd panics and tries to escape the arena, but the bombs quickly explode and douse them with a black ooze that is sickeningly familiar. The Engineers are quickly transformed into hundreds (or would that be thousands?) of alien creatures as David watches from above satisfied with his…revenge?
The report also stipulates that the Covenant crew will be touching down on said planet years after David has executed his sadistic revenge or, alternatively, Katherine Waterston and Co. may be answering a distress call on a nearby sister planet. The fate of Elizabeth Shaw remains up in the air, but at least this is a sure-fire sign that Ridley Scott’s prequel-sequel will deliver some answers, right?
All will hopefully be revealed when Alien: Covenant scurries into theaters on May 19th.
