Trivia / Alien: Covenant

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• Acting for Two: Michael Fassbender is playing two different androids: David and a new one named Walter (who is a part of the Covenant crew).
• Ascended Fanon: Colin Shulver, one of the artists who worked on the film's creatures, has referred to the film's version of the Xenomorph using the fan-term "Protomorph" in his art gallery.
• Creator Breakdown: Fan backlash from Prometheus not having Xenomorphs — especially in the wake of the Alien: Engineers script being leaked and showing What Could Have Been — caused Scott to revise his opinion of the Xenomorphs and include their origins in the film — with a few last-minute changes he thought would be interesting. The mixed reception Alien: Covenant received — in part because of those last-minute changes — has since caused him to relapse into stating "the beast is cooked" and wanting to move away from and/or replace them for the third Prometheus movie.
• Deleted Scene:
  • The opening scene with Peter Weyland and the newly activated David was originally longer, with more dialogue between the two. Specifically, David describes the conclusion of Das Rheingold as he plays Richard Wagner's music on the piano.
  • Originally, Walter was also to be seen checking on the Covenant's hydroponics bay before the neutrino burst hits the ship. As he tends to the plants, he whistles a tune, leading Mother to question him about the myth that playing music to plant life encourages it to grow. The scene ends with Mother informing him of the incoming neutrino burst, information he receives whilst checking on the sleeping colonists in the finished film.
  • After the crew meets on the bridge to assess the damage to the Covenant, Oram takes Daniels to one side and tells her how much he respected Branson, before telling her to take some time off to "cry it out", to which she responds with open anger.
  • Daniels is in her quarters, having been refused permission to work by Oram. Walter visits her and offers her some cannabis, which he has grown in hydroponics, telling her it will help her relax. Before leaving, he suggests getting back to work might help take her mind off of her grief.
  • Before Branson's funeral, Oram sits alone on the bridge, fiddling with a set of worry beads as he looks at a photo of an old man (presumably his father). Elsewhere on the ship, Daniels and Walter prepare to jettison Branson's body from an airlock. Walter asks why she asked him to join her, and Daniels points out that she is now alone on a ship full of couples, something she shares with Walter. They are then joined by Tee and Faris, the former presenting a bottle of Branson's favourite whiskey. The scene then continues as in the theatrical release.
  • While mourning Branson alone in her cabin, Daniels was to listen to music on his record player. Shots of the record playing appeared in the trailers.
  • An additional Earth-set flashback after the Covenant has changed course to investigate Planet 4. Sitting alone in her room once more, Daniels remembers being with Branson in their New York apartment. As snow falls outside the window, Branson discusses changes he has made to the layout of their planned log cabin, mentioned several times in the finished film. While this scene appears in the novelization, it is moved to the beginning, in the form of a dream Daniels has whilst in hypersleep.
  • Footage was shot of Walter leaving Lander One alone ahead of the rest of the crew and checking Planet 4's air for any potentially harmful contaminants with a handheld device. Only when he determines it to be safe does he call the rest of the team out.
  • A brief addition while Karine is leading Ledward back to Lander One shows Karine helping the stricken man back to his feet after he stumbles.
  • The scene where the survivors cross the open plaza in the ruined Engineer city was originally longer, showing what is within the vast opening in the ground that they pass. Pausing next to the chasm, Lopé lights a flare and tosses it into the hole, revealed a hangar below similar to the one seen in Prometheus, filled with vessels.
  • Inside the citadel, Walter tells Daniels that David was an advanced prototype created by Weyland and was presumed lost on the Prometheus expedition, after which Daniels thanks him for saving her from the Neomorph. As they talk, she lights some fires for warmth. The scene continues with Daniels pointing out that David's presence on this desolate planet does not make sense, and Walter promises to discuss it with his counterpart. The latter dialogue is featured in the finished version of the film but occurs earlier, just after they arrive in the temple, immediately after David has left to show Lopé and Cole to the roof.
  • Rosie originally said a short prayer in Hebrew while washing. As she does, the Neomorph is seen sneaking up on her through a dark passageway.
  • Rosie's death was slightly longer, with the Neomorph seen slowly rising behind her before she notices it. The creature also paused longer before killing her, during which time Rosie was to swear at the creature and try to reach for her sidearm.
  • A dialogue scene while the survivors hole up inside the citadel has Walter returning to Daniels and Oram to report on his discussions with David. He says that he is concerned by David's mental state and the fact he has obviously not been receiving proper maintenance whilst alone on Planet 4. Oram asks if he thinks David could be dangerous, but Walter merely labels the situation "disturbing". The group then notice Rosie is missing as in the theatrical version.
  • On the way down to David's Egg chamber, Oram originally balked at the smell. David subsequently hands him a balm to rub under his nose and mask the stench.
  • Footage was filmed of David leaning over the Egg that subsequently impregnates Oram to try and convince the captain it is harmless.
  • The scene where Ricks and Upworth are killed in the shower was trimmed for violence; removed was a longer shot of Ricks' mutilated face as the Praetomorph withdraws its inner jaw from the back of his skull. Afterwards, the Praetomorph was to leap through the glass shower partition and land on Upworth.
  • In early cuts, Daniels didn't realise "Walter" was actually David before going to sleep aboard the Covenant.
• Development Gag:
  • The premise of Alien: Covenant and the revised Prometheus saga tying back into the Alien saga reads similarly to Alien: Engineers, the original draft of the first Prometheus film back when it was a direct prequel:
  • According to an interview, the film was to feature a creature directly based off Giger's NECRONOMICON IV, like the Ultramorph from Alien: Engineers was. This was ultimately proven false.
  • The Neomorphs are suspiciously similar to the malleable "prototype" Xenomorph seen in Alien: Engineers.
  • The premise of one of the planned follow-ups (a story explaining what happened to the Engineers) is suspiciously similar to the original premise of Alien: Covenant, back when it was Paradise Lost.
• Dueling Works: With Life. Both are big-name cast Sci-Fi Horror movies released in early 2017 wherein a hostile alien lifeform infects a spaceship and kills off the crew after they investigate a mysterious planet, and conclude with severely downer endings. Especially watching both trailers back-to-back in the theatre feels way too much like deja-vu. Both of them even got the same kind of reviews and both underperformed at the box office, though this film got more scathing criticisms.
• Early Draft Tie-In: The novelization is based on an early version of the script, and features details and scenes cut out of the final version of the film — including a detailed explanation on how the Engineers' bioweapon works, canonizing the long-held fan-theory that the Engineers created the Xenomorphs, and a scene where a Xenomorph rips a Neomorph to bloody confetti.
• Flip-Flop of God:
  • The original Prometheus started as a direct prequel to the original Alien before being revised into a stand-alone spinoff, and the sequel was originally going to have as little to do with Alien as possible given their shared universe. In the four years that followed the lackluster reception of Prometheus from fans of the Alien series, Scott did a complete 180 and decided to not only include the Xenomorphs, but explain where they come from.
  • Whether or not Noomi Rapace would be involved also ran through the gauntlet of various positions from the people involved in production. First, she was in because the movie was a Prometheus sequel. Then, her character was written out when it was decided to make the movie more akin to a direct prequel to Alien rather than a spin-off set in the same world. Finally, her character was reinstated into the movie's script mid-production.
• Franchise Killer: The disappointing box-office results and mixed response from critics and fans have put the likelihood of another Alien film being made increasingly unlikely. If that wasn't enough, Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox in March 2019 has made even Ridley Scott uncertain about the franchise's future in their hands. However, Fox's Emma Watts named the franchise as a possible tentpole during CinemaCon 2019 and James Cameron expressed interest in Neill Blomkamp's proposed film, adding more confusion to the matter. Ultimately Alien: Romulus from Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead (2013), Don't Breathe) will be the next cinematic installment of the series with a theatrical release set for August 2024, but what way the movie will go lore-wise and the impact it'll have on the franchise after its 7-year slumber remains to be seen.
• God Does Not Own This World: Ridley Scott's assertions about the origins of the Xenomorphs have since been disregarded by Fox in favor of them having been created by the Engineers.
• Missing Trailer Scene: A number of shots and scenes present in the trailers and preview clips are not present in the finished product. This includes both of the prologue clips (The Crossing and Last Supper, which appear to have been deleted scenes restructured to serve as short films), the "She Won't Go Quietly" trailer (which was apparently a scene shot specifically for marketing purposes) or the shot of the Xenomorph racing down a darkened passageway as it jumps between walls (although we get a "Jaws" First-Person Perspective shot of the Xenomorph shifting around through these same halls in the movie itself).
• Refitted for Sequel: The yellow EVA suit Tennessee uses was inspired by this concept art◊ by Mœbius made for the original Alien movie.
• Release Date Change: Originally planned for an October 6, 2017 release date, the film was pushed forward to August 4 of the same year. Later, it was moved to a May 19 release instead.
• Troubled Production:
  • Shockingly averted. The film was filmed in just 74 days without going over-budget, and was finished on time.
  • Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 (which was supposed to go into production as this film was filming) on the other hand, got cancelled because of this. Despite James Cameron stating that the film's script was "gangbusters" and Sigourney Weaver's avid support for the film, Ridley Scott stated in an interview that the film had no script during its long development and was unable to get one in time for production, and that Weaver and Michael Biehn hadn't even signed on yet. Fox also had no faith in the project and preferred Scott's film so they canned it. It's also likely Fox wanted to avoid a repeat of Alien³.
• What Could Have Been: See the franchise's page.
• Word of God:
  • Even before the film was released, Scott stated in an interview that Covenant would be exploring the origins of the Xenomorphs and that people who thought the Engineers created them were wrong. He later clarified that originally the Engineers were going to have been the Xenomorph's creators, with David having been attempting to replicate their work, but that late into development he thought it would be more interesting for David to be the Xenomorphs' sole creator and had all the scenes featuring Engineer-made Xenomorphs scrapped and David's Xenomorph re-designed to remove the biomechanical exoskeleton. However, Fox seems to have vetoed this and gone with Alien: Covenant's original intended origin of the Xenomorphs with Alien: The Roleplaying Game.
  • In an interview with IGN, when asked why David created the Xenomorphs, Ridley Scott stated he did so out of curiosity — a callback to Charles Holloway's "'cuz we could" response to David's question of why humans created him; a rejection of humanity as inadequate and the Engineers for having "bleeped-up" by creating something that would ultimately turn against them (humans), and the desire to create a superior species to exterminate and replace them both.
  • In the DVD version, the Director's Commentary has Scott discuss various behind the scenes details that weren't directly shown or were cut out — like David drugging Oram to make him less cautious around the Xenomorph egg,^note Hanging a lampshade on the fact it's a Too Dumb to Live moment in the process. and the fact that the Xenomorphs can regenerate even if they're sliced to pieces.
• Working Title: The film was tentatively named Prometheus 2. It was later changed to Aliens: Paradise Lost (a reference to the unused titled for Prometheus, Paradise) and then to Alien: Covenant.

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