Michael Fassbender’s reticent synthetic David notwithstanding, director Ridley Scott has all but hit the hard reset button when it comes to casting on Alien: Covenant, with today bringing word of two new additions to the ensemble.
Barley a day after we learned of Jussie Smolett, Amy Seimetz, Carmen Ejogo and Callie Hernandez joining the sci-fi sequel, Deadline is reporting that Covenant has enough room in its hulls for two late additions: Billy Crudup and Australian actor Alex England. The former has also secured a role in the Natalie Portman-fronted biopic, Jackie.
Circling back to Alien: Covenant, however, and now that the starry cast is surely complete, Fox and Ridley Scott will set about getting the wheels in motion. Jack Paglen (Transcendence) and Michael Green (Green Lantern) are attached to pen a script for the sequel formerly known as Prometheus 2, and now that Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw is ostensibly out of the picture, expect Scott’s follow-up to revolve around an entirely new planet beyond Calpamos and its ravaged moons – including LV-223 (Prometheus), LV-426 (Alien).
Last we seen Fassbender’s David, he was bound for the home of the Engineers alongside Shaw, though when Alien: Covenant opens, he’ll be the sole inhabitant of a dark and dangerous world.
Here’s the early logline for the sequel:
“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.”
Alien: Covenant, billed as the second installment in Ridley Scott’s prequel trilogy, will descend into theaters on October 7, 2017.