When director Ridley Scott returned to the world of the Alien franchise, his prequels introduced an important figure we’d never laid eyes on before. Through Guy Pearce’s role as Weyland Corporation CEO Peter Weyland, one half of the series’ antagonistic power structure was proven to be more integral to the evolution of the Xenomorphs than we’d thought. Playing Peter through both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, Pearce may not know if Scott is tackling a sequel to the most recent film, but he has some intriguing thoughts on the potential for such a prospect.
Promoting his most recent film, Zone 414, Guy Pearce has been making the usual rounds speaking with the press. And in his interview with Comic Book Movie, the actor was asked if he knew anything concrete about the intended sequels that Ridley Scott had planned to follow up Alien: Covenant. Pearce’s denial came with a lot of praise for his experiences in the series, as you'll see below:
Well, I don’t know, to be honest. Again, I think with any of these... I wouldn’t have necessarily thought I’d get to do Covenant either! Who knows. I’m not in regular contact with Ridley, but we do have semi-regular contact occasionally. I’m sure if there is something, he would certainly let me know. He was very generous to even put me in the films in the first place, and we’ve always talked about how pleased he was with what we came up with.
While the official word is that Guy Pearce doesn’t know if Ridley Scott is doing anything connected to an Alien: Covenant follow-up, it certainly sounds like he’d be in on the ground floor. Even if it sounds like Scott is, once again, changing his tune on how satisfied he's been with the prequel stories thus far. At least, that assumption seems true provided Peter Weyland is set to return in the Alien franchise yet again. It wouldn’t be a total stretch, as audiences who saw Prometheus were probably as surprised as Pearce himself when Peter Weyland made an appearance in Alien: Covenant.
Though the 103 year old Peter was killed off towards the end of the former film, thanks to pissing off the Engineers he sought for guidance on immortality, Alien: Covenant saw Mr. Weyland returning in a flashback from Michael Fassbender’s David. Highlighting just why David has an axe to grind with humanity, the scene shows David’s perfection in sharp contrast to the imperfect rage Peter Weyland has against his own creation. That antagonism couldn’t be further from the feelings that Guy Pearce has on Ridley Scott including him in the Alien prequel saga, as the actor thinks that should there be an opportunity to continue that story, the legendary director won’t pass it up:
I’m sure if there was the opportunity there, he’d go for it. There may come a point where I’m actually old enough to play Peter Weyland as the version as I am in real life as opposed to this 100-year-old, five-hour prosthetic makeup version of him. Obviously, when we did Covenant, I played the younger version of him, but of course, I would. It’d be a real honour because we know Alien from back in 1979 has left an incredible and indelible mark on people’s psyches as far as the sci-fi world. I mean, what a film. Just to be plugged into that to the degree I have has been a real honour. It was a really amazing experience.
As Guy Pearce is intensely grateful to Ridley Scott’s decision to cast him in both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, his claim to know nothing of any sequel progress feels valid. But then again, that doesn’t mean that there’s no room for Pearce’s Peter Weyland to appear again. Whether it’s through the FX series being developed with Noah Hawley, or in a hypothetical secret sequel that the actor is keeping secret, the human story in the Alien universe could see one of its coldest figures return in due time. Should he be able, you can bet that Mr. Pearce will return to keep that thread alive and well; and hopefully without all of the prosthetic makeup he had to endure on Prometheus. You can catch Guy Pearce playing a hero once more in Zone 414, which is currently available to rent on VOD.
