Michael Fassbender stole the show as the android David in 2012’s Prometheus, and in Alien: Covenant, the actor will be playing both that role as well as an updated model of the David android known as Walter. The latter is expected to be a more heroic character (mostly because he doesn’t have the emotions which made the previous version so sinister), but David looks set to be the big bad after unleashing the Xenomorphs on the home of the Engineers.
Asked in a recent interview about the differences between the two, Fassbender weighed in on what we can expect from Walter in Alien: Covenant and why he’s similar to a certain fan favourite Star Trek character.
“I wanted Walter to be more Spock-like — devoid of human characteristics or emotional contents that are programmed into David. I want him more like a blank canvas one can project things upon.”
The actor is really emphasizing the fact that Walter won’t have the same emotions which ultimately surfaced in David. By the end of Prometheus, we’d seen him become concerned with things like pride, ambition and greed, but Alien: Covenant looks to push that one step further as he takes aim at wiping out humanity.
It’s pretty terrifying to think that an android has developed human emotions and now wants to wipe his creators out, and it should be fascinating seeing how the movie deals with that and the way his actions will ultimately tie into the larger Alien franchise.
Alien: Covenant is set to be released next month, so we don’t have too long to go now before we learn what David has planned and how Walter may or may not try to stop his predecessor.
