It’s safe to say that Alien: Covenant wasn’t the monster hit Fox were hoping for. Before its release, director Ridley Scott was quoted as saying he could see the Alien franchise becoming “as big as Star Wars.” Now, however, after the film’s critical mauling, audience indifference and a poor showing at the box office (not to mention the Disney/Fox merger), it’s looking doubtful we’ll see a sequel to Covenant anytime soon.
But things could have been so, so different, as revealed by this just-released concept art by Khang Le, who worked in the film’s art department in 2014. As you no doubt know, before Alien: Covenant was Alien: Covenant, it was Prometheus 2, and would have followed a narrative much more in line with the themes of Prometheus rather than attempting to circle back into setting up the Alien franchise. Of course, Covenant as released was in many ways a direct sequel to that aforementioned film, most notably carrying on the story of Michael Fassbender’s android David and providing a gruesome conclusion for Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw.
Still, this concept art points towards a very different film. In particular, the monster designs are similar yet not quite the same as the ‘classic’ Xenomorph, appearing influenced by the translucent, pale design of the engineers, together with a more organic design than H.R. Giger’s unmistakable biomechanical style. Also, David in this concept art is very different to the David of Covenant, with the art maybe suggesting that in this variation of the story he isn’t responsible for the creation of the creature that caused so much trouble on board the Nostromo.
Of course, we’ll never know what could have been, but this is still a neat insight into the production of a film that turned out to be, at least in my books, an interesting failure.
What do you think, though? Would this version of Alien: Covenant have beaten out the often confusing and slightly campy movie we got? Let us know in the comments section down below!
