Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant is the sequel to his 2012 film Prometheus and the second installment in the director’s planned Alien prequel movie trilogy. Covenant picks up ten years after the events of its predecessor, as a new crew of human space explorers make their way to the Engineers’ home world: a place believed to have once been a paradise, but which has now become a planet of darkness and death where Prometheus expedition survivor - and android - David (Michael Fassbender) is seemingly the only individual still alive on the planet. Katherine Waterston (Steve Jobs), Carmen Ejogo (Selma), Danny McBride (This Is the End), and Demián Bichir (The Hateful Eight) are among the actors playing the Covenant’s human crew in the film.
Leaked photos from the Covenant set have already revealed what much of the Engineers’ planet is believed to look like in the film; namely, a wasteland that resembles the remains of Pompeii, complete with the outlines of humanoid figurines encased in petrified stone casings. Now, 20th Century Fox has revealed an official first look at Scott’s next sci-fi movie, via a production image released through the Alien Anthology Twitter account. The photo shows Waterston as Covenant’s protagonist, a character who is simply referred to here as “Daniels”. You can check out that Alien: Covenant production image featuring Waterston, below.
The Covenant spaceship’s interior design, which is presumably what is shown above, is in keeping with the production design of Prometheus and previous Alien installments alike. With that said, Alien: Covenant’s Oscar-winning costume designer Janty Yates (a longtime Ridley Scott collaborator) has indicated that the passage of time between Prometheus and Covenant will, in fact, be reflected in the movie (see the spacesuits worn by Covenant’s space explorers, among other elements). Scott’s Prometheus sequel should also further bridge the gap between the visual design of Prometheus and his original Alien feature, at the same time that it incorporates certain well-known aspects of the larger Alien franchise’s mythology (including, for example, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation - which was formed during the aftermath of the events that transpired in Prometheus).
Waterston, for her part, has adapted a look here that brings to mind classic Alien heroine Ellen Ripley’s (Sigourney Weaver) appearance, as well as that of Prometheus’ Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), to a lesser degree. It remains to be seen if “Daniels” emerges as a memorable protagonist in her own right or a Ripley re-tread, though. Similarly, Alien: Covenant has to prove itself to be a worthwhile chapter in the larger Alien film saga and not an uninspired recycling of elements from the previous Alien films, as some fans are concerned it’s going to be after Scott’s divisive Prometheus.
As it were, Waterston herself is a star on the rise thanks to her supporting roles in such films as Steve Jobs and Inherent Vice, while she will costar in the Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them later this year, too. For that reason, her being onboard for Convent is an encouraging sign, as are the involvement of other noteworthy actors with this film (which includes Waterston’s Fantastic Beasts costar, Carmen Ejogo). Take that for what it’s worth.
Here is 20th Century Fox’s official synopsis for Alien: Covenant:
Alien: Covenant opens in U.S. theaters on August 4th, 2017.
Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created in ALIEN with ALIEN: COVENANT, the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that began with PROMETHEUS — and connects directly to Scott’s 1979 seminal work of science fiction. Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world — whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.
Source: 20th Century Fox
