It’s official: 20th Century Fox and Ridley Scott’s follow-up to Prometheus will be titled Alien: Covenant, with today’s synopsis and official logo confirming an October 2017 release date.
The sequel formerly known as Alien: Paradise Lost is due to enter production in February of next year, welcoming back Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace’s characters for another bout of extraterrestrial mayhem – or, at least, that’s what we assumed.
[zerg]Prior to today’s formal announcement, it was long-rumored that Rapace would reprise her role as Elizabeth Shaw in the sequel – now officially known as the second installment in the Alien prequel trilogy – though there is nary a mention of her archaeologist/space explorer in the synopsis for Covenant, which really raises more questions than answers.
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.
Much like Prometheus before it, it seems Ridley Scott’s sequel will actually be titled after the space vessel housing an entirely new crew of explorers. What’s interesting, though, is that they are seemingly bound for a planet whose “sole inhabitant” is Fassbender’s android, David. The fact that she survived the end of Prometheus would lead us to believe that Noomi Rapace’s character is still a core part of Alien: Covenant, but perhaps she didn’t survive the trip from LV-223? Then again, it’s entirely possible that Fox has intentionally omitted her character from the early logline, either for story or contractual reasons.
In light of today’s news, 20th Century Fox has slated Alien: Covenant for a release on October 6, 2017.