LAS VEGAS — Fox and director Ridley Scott haven’t been shy about showing footage from “Alien: Covenant.” An extended sequence was part of a roadshow 2017 preview at the beginning of the year and the first trailer seemed to give a bunch away. And based on what we’d seen outside of Michael Fassbender playing a familiar-looking android model in this new ship’s crew, it was hard to find the connection to what was supposed to be the film’s predecessor, 2012’s “Prometheus.”
That appears to be something of a misdirect from Fox and Scott and, it goes without saying, **spoilers ahead.**
At CinemaCon today, Scott introduced a sneak of “Alien: Convenant” and referred to the “horrific world” he was inviting audiences to jump into. We now know this world of horrors were created by David (Fassbender) from the first “Prometheus” film. Or, at least that’s what the footage wants us to think.
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The sneak began with the spacecraft from the last film arriving at the Engineers’ home world. Surprised, startled or curious about this ship’s arrival, hundreds of Engineers have gathered in what looks like a Roman or Greek coliseum for the ship to dock. As the Engineers look on, the base of the ship opens and we find David walking on a deck. He looks ragged, but fully operational in a complete body. Then, as the Engineer population looks on, a mass of black bombs fall from David’s ship. The crowd panics and tries to escape the arena, but the bombs quickly explode and douse them with a black ooze that is sickeningly familiar. The Engineers are quickly transformed into hundreds (or would that be thousands?) of alien creatures as David watches from above satisfied with his…revenge?
We then jump to “present day” where David’s voice-over (or is it younger model Walter’s voice?) describes how man believed they are gods and are leaving their planet seeking paradise in the stars. Walter (Fassbender) has no intention of letting that happen.
It looks like the planet the ‘Covenant’ crew have landed on is either the Engineers’ abandoned home world hundreds of years after David’s actions or a sister planet that David has also seeded with alien spores. As the first trailer depicts, this crew of the colony ship the Covenant lands only to find themselves infected with the same alien monstrosities that besieged the crew of the Prometheus.
The preview didn’t indicate if David returns later on in the film or what the fate of Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) is. And it’s unclear where the original “Alien” film takes place in this timeline. But, if you were hoping for a resolution to the fate of David and Elizabeth from “Prometheus,” you are going to be at least partially satisfied.
“Alien: Covenant” opens nationwide on May 19th.
Look for more coverage from CinemaCon all this week on The Playlist. For more from Hollywood’s big sneak follow me on twitter @TheGregoryE or follow my Instagram stories @Gregel17.