Will the new story shed light on the events of the first film?
Alien: Covenant starts shooting in early 2016. We’ll be keeping track of everything we know about the upcoming installment here and update it regularly.
[Update 12/18/2015] We’ve updated the section “Who’s in it?” with information about the newly cast female lead!
What is the title of the movie?
[Update 11/16/2015] The title of the film is now officially Alien: Covenant. Here’s the official title art, which is very reminiscent of the logo for Alien: Isolation:
[Update 11/14/2015] It’s being reported that Alien: Paradise Lost was just a placeholder name. The new (and hopefully final) title of the film is Alien: Covenant. The word “covenant” is defined as “an agreement,” which is usually in a religious context. We’re guessing the covenant in the film has to do with the Engineers and their masters, or humans and their creators.
[UPDATE: 9/24/15] Though it is technically Prometheus 2, in a recent interview Sir Ridley Scott just revealed the name of the film to be Alien: Paradise Lost.
Prometheus once went by the titles Alien: Engineers and Paradise, so the new title isn’t that much of a surprise… though we didn’t think he’d use Alien in the title after taking it away in the first film. As for what the title could mean… we have our theories.
[UPDATE: 9/29/15] In an interview with Yahoo, Sir Ridley has elaborated on how the title ties into Milton’s original poem of the same name:
“Have you ever read Paradise Lost, by Milton? In a funny kind of way, it’s an interesting basis for the darkness of [Prometheus 2]. Where the good-looking guy, who is evil as s–t, gets all the girls and goes to the nightclubs. The other guy, who is not quite as good-looking, is boring as hell and stays home.
So in a funny kind of way, we used that as the basis for it, it’ll be Alien: Paradise Lost. Which is very spooky, because it continues after the last one, where Elizabeth Shaw [Noomi Rapace] says, ‘I wanna go where they came from.’ And you’ve got Michael Fassbender in two parts, so she’ll slowly put him back together.
They will go to the world of the Engineer… That’s where they’re going to go. They will find out who would design such an awful bio-mechanoid creature, like a massive piece of bacteria.”
Is Sir Ridley Scott returning to direct?
Who’s writing?
Jack Paglen (Transcendence) wrote the first draft. Michael Green (Green Lantern, Blade Runner 2) has since done revisions.
[Update: 10/16/2015] Deadline has said that the the writers have turned in the latest draft and it is “it is, by all accounts, very strong.”
[Update 11/11/2015] It’s being reported that John Logan (Skyfall, Penny Dreadful) has been hired to revise and polish the latest draft of the film.
Will there be any new characters?
[UPDATE: 10/8/2015] According to Sir Ridley in an interview with Awards Campaign, Shaw and David will be joined by a new crew by the end of act one of the film:
“It’s going to be it’s own separate thing because they are going to the planet of the Engineers and they are going to see what happened there. It was a disaster. And they will be in that alien craft that takes them there, but with a new group that’s incoming, a new group of travelers in the beginning of the first act.”
And who’s been cast?
Deadline has confirmed that Michael Fassbender will be back as the android David. Noomi Rapace is also expected to return, but this has not been confirmed yet.
[Update: 10/16/2015] Deadline is reporting that Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation lead Rebecca Ferguson is being sought after for a substantial role in the film. The part is said to be “a peach of a major female role.”
[Update: 12/18/2015] Deadline is reporting that Katherine Waterson (Steve Jobs, Inherent Vice) has been cast in the film in a lead role.
What will the film be about?
[Update 11/16/2015] The official plot synopsis has been released. It mentions David returning, but not Shaw. Interesting…
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.
Apparently the film will have three plotlines, one of which will be a continuation of Shaw and David’s story in the first film. While we won’t be seeing any of the iconic xenomorphs in the film we will get a connection between LV-223 (the planet in the first Prometheus) and LV-426 (the planet in Alien and Aliens). The film will reportedly have a larger cast than its predecessor, including multiple versions of David.
The first film had very specific themes it explored. What will Alien: Covenant explore?
Sir Ridley Scott recently gave an interview, elaborating on the goals of the sequel:
“You can either say, leave the first film alone and jump ahead, but you can’t because it ends on too specific a plot sentence as she says, I want to go where they came from, I don’t want to go back to where I came from…
It is pretty grand thinking, and that’s what I want to explore. You’ve got to go back and find those engineers and see what they are thinking. If engineers are the forerunners of us, and therefore were creators of life forms in places that were possible for biology to function, who created that?”
There is a rumor that the engineers actually weren’t our creators… but rather serve those who are. His quote above seems to elude to that that.
Will there be any new monsters in the film?
Rumor is there are two monsters, which will only have a loose connection with the Xenomorph.
[Update 11/24/15] A report from Scified is saying that the “Ultramorph,” which was a Xenomorph born out of an Engineer and showed up in the third act of Jon Spaiths’ original draft of Prometheus, will be in the film. Apparently, David has a hand in making it:
“The movie will have 2 Monsters, one is new and both are different yet similar to the Xeno DNA. The NEW Monster is a New Event, so it’s nothing created before the Events of the end of the First movie…. it’s created by an event in the movie… and this New Monster is going to be based off of the Original Concept that Alien drew influence from, and this idea is something they had planned with Spaights’ Ultramorph and so Gigers Necomonicon 4 is the starting point. This Monster will be transparent like a Jelly Fish to a degree…. and it’s hinted that David plays a part in its creation.
The movie won’t be going the route of an Alien movie, just we will see more clues and things that we can relate and make connection to the Xeno DNA and Bio-Mechanics of the Engineers. The movie will loosely touch up on themes that can connect to the Prometheus Mythos and the Bible but more in respect to the Paradise Lost version of events but again loosely.
They won’t be going a full blown Ancient Aliens in detail on us, just we can make subtle links to themes, such as Rebellion, Order of Creation (that has multiple layers that does not start with the Engineers and does not end with David). Stealing of Forbiden Knowledge and Fire and how playing God and going against God always has dire consequences.”
As for what it will look like, it seems it’ll be based on the H.R. Giger’s concept art that originally inspired the first Alien:
Will the actual Xenomorph be back?
[Update: 9/25/15] It will! In an interview with Empire, he confirmed it:
“I think I have to go again. We will see who made it, and why. That’s what’s interesting”
[Update 11/11/2015] It seems we will not only be seeing the Xenomorph again, but at some point we’ll meet the people who created it according to Sir Ridley Scott:
“Prometheus 2 will start getting shot in February and I’ve already begun now so I know what the script is. Then there will be another one after that and then maybe we’ll back into Alien 1, as to why? Who would make such a dreadful thing?”
It seems the sequel to this film will be a direct prequel to the original Alien. Perhaps it’ll explain how that ship crashed on LV-426.
[Update 12/12/2015] In an interview with The Wrap, Ridley Scott confirmed that now only is the Xenomorph coming back, but so are the eggs, facehuggers, and chestbursters:
“Yeah. Well, really it’s “Alien.” They’re going to go to the planet where the engineers came from, and come across the evolving creature that they had made. Why did they make it? Why would they make such a terrifying beast? It felt bio-mechanoid, it felt like a weapon. And so the movie will explain that, and reintroduce the alien back into it.
There was always this discussion: Is Alien, the character, the beast, played out or not? We’ll have them all: egg, face-hugger, chest-burster, then the big boy. I think maybe we can go another round or two.”
Will the film explain what the heck that Black Goo is?
Apparently, we will discover that the Black Goo is “the origin of all creation.” We’re fairly certain the film will elaborate on that.
Will Alien: Covenant tie into the Prometheus comics?
Doubtful. Rumor is the comics will not be considered canon for the sequel.
Will Alien: Covenant tie into Alien 5?
If it does, it will only do so in a peripheral way we’re guessing. Alien 5 does take place many decades later, after all.
[UPDATE: 9/25/2015] – Aintitcoolnews is reporting that Sir Ridley recently discussed Alien 5 and Alien: Paradise Lost:
”I’m producing [the sequel]. The design is for it to go out next, after this. This will go out first. It’s more associated with Ripley, it’s a completely different angle, it’s more of a sequel. I’m coming in from the back end.”
“I’ve even got connections with Ripley [in this], but I’m not telling you what.”
So, it seems there will be some connection… though we’re willing to bet it’ll be in passing.
Will the movie get a sequel?
[UPDATE: 11/30/2015] Two sequels are currently planned, which means we’ll be getting four prequels to Alien. Ridley Scott plans to shoot them in Australia like he is with Covenant. As for what they’ll be about, Sir Ridley laid out his plan in a press conference in Sydney:
“Its a very complex story. Its an evolution of what I first did with Prometheus 1. Prometheus 1 was borne out of my frustration that on Alien 1 in 1979 – I only did one as I don’t normally do sequels. I was amazed that in the 3 that followed that no-one asked the question ‘why the Alien, who made it and why?’ Very basic questions. So I came up with the notion of Prometheus 1, which starts to indicate who might have made it and where it came from.
So I’m now going to the next one, which is the next evolution directly connected with the first one, which was this Shaw, when [s]he replaced Michael Fassbender in two pieces and we’ll kind of pick it up there and it will evolve. When that’s finished there’ll be another one and then another one which will gradually drive into the back entrance of the film in 1979… So in other words, why was this space jockey there and why did he have an Alien inside him? And those questions will be answered.”
When will production begin on Alien: Covenant?
They’re already scouting locations. They’re set to start shooting in February 2016, which means the script should be coming along well at this point.
When will Alien: Covenant be released?
The current date on IMDB is May 20th, 2017.
