Details on Alien: Covenant have more or less been scarce, especially in regards to characters. And considering it is a follow-up to 2012’s Prometheus, it’s a bit surprising that Noomi Rapace (who played Elizabeth Shaw in Prometheus) will not be returning. Michael Fassbender, however, who played the eerily “synthetic” David will be returning for the new movie. There’s also one other character that functions as connective tissue, although it’s a bit of a spoiler – so you’ve been warned.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
According to the Playlist, sources close to the film as well as starring actress Katherine Waterson have revealed she will be playing Ellen Ripley’s mother. Ellen Ripley of course being the main protagonist of the original four Alien films. This means that Katherine Waterson’s role will tie directly into the original Alien, making Alien: Covenant a legitimate prequel.
As exciting as it is to see the Ripley bloodline extend throughout the series, I’m a bit wary of the idea regarding Ellen Ripley’s mother being featured in the new movie. Not only have prequels such as the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy shown us that forcing characters in for the sake of continuity can sometimes go bad, but it thematically weakens the original Alien.
The first Alien film was a lovecraftian tale of normal people stumbling across a dark and ancient spacecraft, one that had been forgotten for several aeons and held a cargo that no one had ever seen before. And making a prequel to that concept was a risky idea anyway, as Prometheus had proven, so it’s even riskier to make another prequel that directly connects characters from the original Alien into a larger, more convoluted storyline that started even before they were born.
But it does seem that Alien: Covenant is learning from the mistakes of its predecessor Prometheus and will be using a tighter script and more relevant visual style that’s more in line with Alien, so perhaps the crew will be able to make it work. The story is as follows:
Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers a dark world whose sole inhabitant is David (Michael Fassbender), the synthetic survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.
Alien: Covenant hits theaters August 4, 2017.
Source: The Playlist