As the countdown continues to Alien: Covenant, let’s look at the marketing so far!
With just under three weeks away from the U.S release of Alien: Covenant, the latest in the Prometheus/Alien prequel trilogy, I thought I’d run down the marketing that 20th Century Fox has released so far, to see what insights it offers into the potential plot. Sometimes the speculating is just as enjoyable as the final payoff of watching.
Here is the official plot synopsis to Alien: Covenant:
“Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, members (Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup) of the colony ship Covenant discover what they think to be an uncharted paradise. While there, they meet David (Michael Fassbender), the synthetic survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition. The mysterious world soon turns dark and dangerous when a hostile alien life-form forces the crew into a deadly fight for survival.”
The Trailers
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5KPP6lxRVg[/embedyt]
As of right now, there are three trailers released along with a few tv spots that reinforce the message from the synopsis, but possibly give some glimpses at some underlying story elements. What I find most interesting is the glimpses we get of David and Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) in the time after Prometheus and presumably before the events that take place in Alien: Covenant. I’ll delve into more of that later. The feel to this movie is similar to both Prometheus and Aliens, a sci-fi horror film, although this one definitely strays back towards the Xenomorphs as the primary focus.
The crew of the Covenant land on what appears to be the planet that David and Shaw went looking for at the end of Prometheus, and it appears to be completely devoid of sentient life. At some point, the more traditional Xenomorphs are introduced (or created) along with some very new mutations. How that plays out is I believe central to where this movie will go.
The Prologues
Aside from the trailers and tv spots, two separate prologue stories have made their way online. Each one covering a different area setting up the events that we will see in the film.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkXgRlRao5I[/embedyt]
In the first one, titled Prologue: Last Supper, the crew of the Covenant gather for one last meal together before they enter cryosleep for their long journey. I think the purpose of this short is to give a basic understanding as to what they are setting out to do, but also to show a little bit of the dynamic between the crew. On the surface, most of them seem to get along, but some meaningful looks and comments reveal some potential conflicts some of them may have with one another. There may be more to this scene in the finished film than what was released in this teaser prologue, this just served the purpose of teasing a bit of the story.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeMVrnYNwus[/embedyt]
The second is called Prologue: The Crossing. I love this one. In it, Shaw repairs David who was just a head the last time we saw him in Prometheus, work together to make the journey to the Engineer home world. This is something that I desperately want to see, but in what capacity this scene plays is uncertain. It feels to me to be something that is referenced in a flashback, with David preparing to bombard an alien city with the jars of black goo from the previous film. Could this be why the planet from the trailer appears to be completely empty of any kind of animal or alien life? Is it the same planet?
Viral Websites
Several viral websites have popped up that offer some additional information to the film and to the Alien universe as a whole.
Alien-Covenant.com is a great place to get new updates for the movie from an official source, along with all things Alien. Trailers, merchandise news,set visits, etc… The forums there are also worth checking out, there are some really great fan theories and speculation there.
MeetWalter.com is a cool website, one that you can preorder your very own Walter. Walter is the latest version of David, and this site is very similar to the David site that appeared during the lead up to Prometheus. Just a promotional website about a fictional product, but it does give some cool information.
WeylandIndustries.com has also been around since Prometheus, but has slightly updated their site. It now includes some information regarding colonization efforts. The section regarding existing colonies is worth taking a look at.
Where is it going?
So just where is this movie going? There is already quite a bit of speculation on what this movie will be about, and where it will leave us in the end.
Originally, this trilogy was to link back around to the original Alien film, but I’m not quite sure that’s the case anymore. Scott has already announced the next installment is Alien: Awakening, but this film will be a Covenant prequel. That is why I don’t think we’ll get too much into the Shaw/David backstory. In my opinion, they’ll save that to flesh it out in it’s own movie, the way it deserves to be told. After which, there will be a new trilogy of movies to link between the Prometheus trilogy and Alien. So that means wherever this one ends, it may not be what anyone was expecting. In my mind, that’s a good thing.
May 19th, 2017 is when we’ll start to get some answers, along with some new questions!
Alien: Covenant
Mike Harris hails from the suburbs of Chicago and has been a fan for most of his life. Working as an industrial radiographer and raising a family with his wife take up most of his time, but there’s always room for Star Wars books and podcasts! Just looking to give back to Star Wars and the fan community, it’s been a source of fun and learning for him for so long.