After an exciting marketing campaign that teased everything from the film’s characters to its setting, 20th Century Fox finally debuted the very first trailer for Alien: Covenant last night, giving us our first look at the next chapter in the iconic sci-fi franchise. It didn’t tell us very much about the plot of Sir Ridley’s latest, but it did assure us of one thing: the film is definitely going to be putting its R rating to good use.
We already knew as much thanks to some reports from a special presentation held by the studio earlier this month, where audiences got to see several bloody scenes from Covenant – some of which were apparently quite shocking. But now that the trailer is out in the wild, we can see for ourselves just how creepy and violent it’ll be. Of course, it did have to hold back quite a bit, but from the teases we did get, it’s clear that this is one film that may have you covering your eyes.
That’s something that Katherine Waterston, who stars in the film as Daniels, re-iterated in a recent interview with ComicBook.com
“It’s freaky,” the actress said. “It’s definitely scary. I think people can handle it but it’s going to be a thrill. I don’t think it’s going to destroy anybody’s lives or anything but it is definitely scary. There’s levity in it, too, and wonderful interpersonal dynamics and stuff. That was something that was so great about the original film. You really felt you knew these people and that they were specific and lovely and sad to see them go.”
Waterston’s comments are certainly reassuring. After all, the last outing in the franchise, Prometheus, did away with the survival horror elements that made Alien so great all those years ago. It did have its moments, but it was really more of a sci-fi film punctuated with a few disturbing scenes throughout, whereas the 1979 flick was soaked in dread, tension and horror the whole way through.
From the sound of things, Alien: Covenant will be more in the style of the original and we’re very happy to hear that. It’s still a bit too early to say for sure, but it seems like Sir Ridley has learnt from his mistakes on Prometheus and is now ready to get the franchise back on track with this next outing.
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.
