Alien Day, a celebration of the seminal science fiction franchise, has come and gone, but it left us with lots of Alien goodies. We got a look at some concept art of a returning character for the sequel Alien 5, which will continue the story of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley. Alien 5 is still a long way off, though, and Ridley Scott doesn’t want you to forget that a sequel to Prometheus is coming, too, and much sooner. Titled Alien: Covenant, not much is know about the film but know we’ve got our first image and it teases just a little bit of the plot for us.
This image comes from the Alien Anthology Twitter account. While a patch on a space suit is nothing to get too excited about, it’s the words on the patch need your attention. This image confirms that Weyland-Yutani has some connection to Alien: Covenant. Also known as the Company, Weyland-Yutani is the face of corporate greed and evil in the Alien franchise and is arguably more of an antagonist than the title acid-spitting monsters. They have a presence in just about every film and usually send human crews to unwittingly capture an Alien, so that they can study it and turn it into a biological weapon. Seeing as how Alien: Covenant is a prequel to the 1979 Alien, this might be when the corporation first becomes aware of the Aliens' existence.
Aside from this image and a title card, there is also a brief synopsis and cast list for Alien: Covenant. The film will follow the crew of the Covenant, who discover what seems to be a paradise planet. But this paradise hides dark secrets and its sole inhabitant is the android David (the returning Michael Fassbender’s character from Prometheus). Fans last saw David as a disembodied head, rocketing into space with Noomi Rapace. We already know that Rapace would not be returning for the sequel, so it appears David might have killed her or the two have simply gone their separate ways. It’s also a pretty safe bet that the crew of the Covenant could be working for Weyland-Yutani.
Alien: Covenant has a pretty impressive cast appearing alongside Michael Fassbender. While their specific roles remain unknown, some of the cast includes Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston, Amy Seimetz, and Danny McBride.
We’ll have to wait until the eventual trailer to learn more about the film, but all of this seems to be leading towards a very exciting project. Alien: Covenant is scheduled to hit theaters next year on August 4, 2017.
