Alien: Covenant is a 2017 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and written by John Logan and Dante Harper. It is the sixth in the Alien film series and the sequel to Prometheus (2012). It features returning star Michael Fassbender, with Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, and Demián Bichir in supporting roles. It follows the crew of a colony ship that lands on an uncharted planet and makes a terrifying discovery.
In 2012, before the release of Prometheus, Scott discussed the prospects of a sequel and new trilogy, and this film was confirmed in August. Principal photography began on April 4, 2016, at Milford Sound in Fiordland National Park, New Zealand, and wrapped on July 19, 2016. Special effects companies Odd Studios and Creature NFX Workshop provided the film's makeup and animatronic creature effects. Scott said the film's first cut was 2 hours and 23 minutes, which was edited down by over twenty minutes.
Alien: Covenant premiered in London on May 4, 2017. It was released by 20th Century Fox on May 12 in the United Kingdom, and on May 19 in the United States. It received generally positive reviews from critics and underperformed at the box office, grossing $242 million against a production budget of $97–111 million.
Plot
In 2104, the spaceship Covenant is en route to colonize the planet Origae-6, carrying 2,000 colonists and 1,140 human embryos in cryogenic stasis. An unexpected shockwave from a nearby star damages the ship and kills 47 colonists, including the captain, Branson. Walter, an advanced android, awakens key personnel to address the situation. During repairs, the crew detects a human voice broadcast from an uncharted, habitable planet. Against the protests of Branson's wife Daniels, new captain Chris Oram decides to investigate.
The crew sends a lander to the planet's surface, where an expedition team tracks the broadcast to a crashed alien ship. Two crew members are unknowingly infected by airborne spores from the local fungi. Alien creatures known as neomorphs rapidly grow inside the pair, killing them in the process, and then attack the team, resulting in the lander's destruction. One neomorph is killed before the survivors are rescued by David, a predecessor of Walter's model that was discontinued for being too human-like.
David leads the survivors to a temple surrounded by thousands of dead humanoids. He claims that he and chief science officer Elizabeth Shaw—the sole survivors of the spaceship Prometheus, which vanished ten years earlier—arrived in the alien ship. However, they lost control and it crashed, leading to Elizabeth's death and releasing a deadly pathogen that annihilated the planet's fauna. The pathogen infects any living animal, either killing it or creating aggressive hybrids.
David reveals his disappointment with Walter's model for lacking his creativity and humanity, and derides their inventor, Peter Weyland, as unworthy of his creations. David confesses his love for Elizabeth, the only person who treated him kindly. When a neomorph infiltrates the temple and kills another team member, David attempts to communicate with it but becomes enraged when Oram kills it. Confronting David, Oram learns that the android has been experimenting with the pathogen to engineer new creatures. David tricks Oram into approaching a facehugger parasite, which fatally impregnates him with a xenomorph embryo.
As the team searches for missing members, Walter discovers Elizabeth's dissected corpse, which David had used in his experiments. David admits to releasing the pathogen deliberately and expresses his disgust for humanity, which he believes is a dying species that his creations will replace. Walter counters that David's mistaken belief that Lord Byron wrote Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ozymandias" reflects his inaccurate grasp of human history and has led to flawed conclusions. David proceeds to kill Walter.
David attacks Daniels, planning to experiment on her. Having repaired himself, Walter surprises David and defends Daniels. Team member Dan Lope is attacked by a facehugger. Cole manages to cut it off but is killed by Oram's xenomorph. Covenant pilot Tennessee uses the cargo lift to rescue Daniels, Lope, and a trailing Walter. When the xenomorph leaps aboard, Daniels confronts it and uses a loading arm to crush it.
Back on the Covenant, a xenomorph hatches from Lope's chest. Daniels and Tennessee lure it into the terraforming bay and eject it into space.
The ship resumes its journey to Origae-6. As Walter places Daniels into stasis, she realizes he is actually David. Before she can act, the stasis pod renders her unconscious. David sends a transmission claiming that the crew, except Daniels and Tennessee, were killed in the neutrino burst. He regurgitates two facehugger embryos and surveys the slumbering colonists, planning to use them in his experiments.
Cast
Michael Fassbender as David 8 and Walter One, two synthetic androids. David is an older model who was a crewmember on the destroyed Prometheus, while Walter is a newer model who monitors the Covenant. Katherine Waterston as Daniels "Danny", the chief of terraforming for the Covenant mission and the wife of the ship's captain, Jacob Branson. She is the third in command after Branson and Oram. Waterston said she was well aware of the comparisons that were going to be made between her and Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley, but that she tried not to think about it too much while filming for fear of being intimidated. Billy Crudup as Christopher "Chris" Oram, the Covenant first officer (then captain) and Karine's husband. Oram is a man of faith. Danny McBride as Tennessee, the chief pilot of the Covenant and Maggie's husband. Demián Bichir as Dan Lope, the head of the security unit aboard the Covenant and Tom Hallett's husband. Carmen Ejogo as Karine Oram, the Covenant biologist and Chris's wife. Jussie Smollett as Ricks, the Covenant navigator and Upworth's husband. Callie Hernandez as Upworth, the Covenant communications officer and Ricks' wife; she also has paramedic training. Amy Seimetz as Maggie Faris, the pilot of the lander and Tennessee's wife. Nathaniel Dean as Tom Hallett, a member of the security unit and Lope's husband. Alexander England as Ankor, a member of the security unit. Benjamin Rigby as Ledward, a member of the security unit. Uli Latukefu as Cole, a member of the security unit. Tess Haubrich as Sarah Rosenthal, a member of the security unit.
A number of actors appear in uncredited roles. Guy Pearce reprises his role as Peter Weyland, the trillionaire founder and CEO of Weyland Corporation (the Weyland-Yutani Corporation in "later" storylines) who died shortly before the destruction of the Prometheus. James Franco appears onscreen in photos and a video as Jacob Branson, the original captain of the Covenant and deceased husband of Daniels; he also appears in deleted scenes and a short promotional prologue to Covenant. Noomi Rapace, who played archaeologist Dr. Elizabeth Shaw in Prometheus, appeared in a short promotional prologue to Covenant that was set in the period between the two movies, but does not act in the final cut of the movie itself, though her voice is heard from the planet early in the film and her image and voice appear later.
Other credited parts include Lorelei King as the voice of the Covenant computer MOTHER. Goran D. Kleut is credited in two roles, as both a neomorph and a xenomorph, while Andrew Crawford is credited as a neomorph.
Production Development
Alien: Covenant is the second film in the Alien prequel series, and the sixth installment in the Alien franchise. It is the third Alien film to be directed by Ridley Scott. In 2012, prior to the release of Prometheus, the first prequel (the fifth Alien film overall), director Ridley Scott began hinting at the prospect of a sequel, as Prometheus had left many questions unanswered. He said a sequel would follow Shaw, the protagonist of Prometheus, to her next destination, "because if it is paradise, paradise cannot be what you think it is. Paradise has a connotation of being extremely sinister and ominous." Prometheus co-writer Damon Lindelof cast doubt on his own participation, saying, "if [Scott] wants me to be involved in something, that would be hard to say no to. At the same time, I do feel like the movie might benefit from a fresh voice or a fresh take or a fresh thought." In June, Scott said an additional film would be required to bridge the >100-year gap between the Prometheus sequel and Alien.
, 20th Century Fox was pursuing a sequel with Scott, Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender involved, and talking to new writers in case Lindelof did not return. In December 2012, Lindelof ultimately chose not to work on the project. Early on, Scott stated the film would feature no xenomorphs as he wanted to phase the xenomorph out to focus on David 8, whose A.I. was the new alien lifeform. He later made statements confirming the xenomorph's presence in the film, mainly due to feedback to Prometheus.
On September 24, 2015, Scott disclosed the film's title as Alien: Paradise Lost. In November 2015, he revealed the new title was Alien: Covenant, and that filming would begin in February 2016 in Australia. An official logo, synopsis and release date were released on November 16, 2015. In an interview about the development of the David character since Prometheus, Scott described the dark turn David would take in Covenant: "He hates them. He has no respect for Engineers and no respect for human beings."
Writing
The initial screenplay was written by Transcendence screenwriter Jack Paglen in June 2013. In March 2014, Michael Green was hired to rewrite Paglen's script. Dante Harper later wrote a new script, but an extensive rewrite was performed by screenwriter John Logan. Logan had previously worked with Scott on Gladiator.
For Logan, the main concept was to adopt a dual plot line for the film that would combine the horror elements of Alien with the philosophical elements of Prometheus. He said, "With Alien: Covenant, I just really wanted to write something that had the feel of the original Alien, because seeing that movie was one of the great events of my youth. It was so overpowering in terms of what it communicated to me and its implications, that when I started talking to Ridley about what became Alien: Covenant, I said, 'You know, that was a hell of a scary movie.' I wanted to write a horror movie because the Grand Guignol elements of Alien are so profound. We tried to recapture that with Alien: Covenant, while also trying to pay homage to the deeper implications of Prometheus. In terms of tone, pace, and how we chose to play this particular symphony, we wanted to create a really frightening movie."
Pre-production In late August 2015, Scott confirmed that he had started scouting locations for the film. In October 2015, the Australian government attracted the production of this film, and of Thor: Ragnarok, to Australia by providing AU$47.25 million in grants. Woz Productions Ltd., a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox, visited Te Anau, New Zealand, on March 28, 2016, to scout locations for filming in Fiordland.
Casting