All across the extended Alien franchise, Ridley Scott has presided over the Nostromo and sent the ultra-futuristic Prometheus ship tumbling (rolling?) to its destruction; but now, the esteemed director is gearing up for another interstellar journey with Alien: Covenant, and the first image welcomes you aboard Scott’s latest space vessel.
Showcasing the crew patch that will be adorning each suit, the image teases the origins behind the Covenant moniker and, unsurprisingly, the nefarious Weyland Yutani fuelling the deep space expedition. Drumming up the religious iconography are two winged angels, who appear to be worshipping and/or protecting a trio of planets. Could it be an illustration of LV-426 and its neighbouring moons? Or a new star system entirely?
[zerg]Our bet would be on the latter, given that Ridley Scott is using his prequel trilogy to expand the Alien lore far beyond Xenomorphs and Facehuggers. Plus, considering that Prometheus left us at a time when Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender were bound for Paradise – only the latter returns for Covenant – it indicates that we could be encountering more Engineers and, potentially, their divine creator(s).
Those all-new cast members that will be donning the space suit pictured below include Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, Billy Crudup, and Demian Bichir. Here’s the official logline teeing up their intergalactic voyage:
“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 will dock in theaters on October 7, 2016. On the other end of Fox’s sci-fi timeline, Neill Blomkamp’s shelved Alien 5 continues to display signs of life, with the latest concept art showcasing the fan-favorite Newt all grown up.
