Fans got an unusually bloody Christmas present early this morning when the violent first trailer for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus follow-up, Alien: Covenant, was finally released online. The footage was filled with gory imagery and promised an R-rated return to the terrifying claustrophobia of the first Alien. However, some felt that the trailer teased a premise that was a little too close to Scott’s iconic original.
Of course, that could all change when we begin to learn a bit more about the plot, but for now the studio seems content to let the comparisons roll in as they keep the promotional material centred around some of the more intense moments from the trailer, as these new stills illustrate. The pics provide fresh looks at our heroine Daniels (Katherine Waterston) and several supporting characters, including the poor bastard who suffers a “back-burst” much to the shock of a couple of his crew, who are also pictured here.
It’ll be interesting to discover exactly how the events of this movie tie-in to both Prometheus and the earlier instalments of the saga, but thanks to the official synopsis we do know that the crew of The Covenant encounter David the android (Michael Fassbender) on the planet, and speculation points to this synthetic (sorry, Bishop… this “artificial person”) being the one that continued to experiment with the parasitic lifeforms first encountered in Prometheus, ultimately creating the Xenomorphs.
Aside from Waterston, Covenant stars 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.
