Alien: Covenant is supposed to fill in the gaps left between Ridley Scott’s Prometheus and his landmark 1979 Alien movie, which is primarily why fans have been so eager to see it.
While critical reviews of Covenant haven’t been all that stellar, there is value in how the film advances the story of The Prometheus crew, and their connection to the events on LV-426, which led to Ellen Ripley’s first encounter with the alien Xenomorsphs. Obviously, there will be MAJOR SPOILERS that follow, so if you haven’t seen Alien: Covenant yet, DO NOT READ FURTHER.
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If you have seen the film, or don’t care about the spoilers, here is Alien: Covenant‘s Prometheus and Original Alien Connections Explained.
The Fate of Elizabeth Shaw…
Anย Alien: Covenantย prologueย teased what happened to Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and David 8 (Michael Fassbender) after the events ofย Prometheus – butย Alien: Covenant reveals the true breadth of their horrific fate.ย
Shaw hijacked an Engineer ship to fly herself and David’s severed head to “Paradise,” the home planet of the Engineers. Along the way, Shaw rebuilt David’s body – a costly mistake not only for her, but for the entire universe.ย
Upon arriving at Paradise, David betrayed Shaw, infecting her with a Xenomorphย and unleashing the entire cache of The Engineers’ bio-weapon pathogen upon the Engineer homeworld. The weapon wiped out The Engineers, while Shaw died from the Xenomorphย that burst from her body.ย
After David lures the crew of The Covenant to his lair, the new model synthetic on the team, Walter (Fassbender), discovers the remains of Elizabeth Shaw on a dissection table.ย
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Deadly Colonization
The big question ofย Alien: Covenantย is “How does it work as an Alien prequel?” And the answer to that question, unfortunately, is: “Barely.” ย Ifย Prometheus’ย connections to theย Originalย Alien were unclear or confusing, thenย Alien: Covenantย won’t offer much improvement.ย
The long-short of it is thatย Covenant‘s “big reveal” (which is utterly obvious) is that David is the nefarious source of the Xenomorphย species spreading across the universe. But like all things inย Ridleyย Scott‘sย Alienย prequel saga, the storyย gets overly convoluted when unfolding.
When the Covenant crew arrive on paradise, two members are infected with the pathogen that wiped out The Engineers, giving birth to the “Neomorphs,” humanoid Xenomorphsย like the one we met inย Alien: Resurrection. After the Neomporphsย are eventually killed by the Covenant team, David tricks Captain Oramย into a vault filled with facehuggerย eggs, infecting the Captain with a Xenomorph, which David sets loose against the Covenant crew.ย
The crew flees from Paradise with help from Tennessee (David McBride), who picks the team up in a shuttle. During that escape, Daniels (Katherine Waterston) must kill the Xenomorphย before it can get into the shuttle; what she doesn’t realize is that during the fight, David replaces Walter, and snuckย onto the shuttle.ย
David infects another crew member with the pathogen when the crew is back on the Covenant; Daniels and Tennesseeย knock the Xenomorphย out of the airlock, but not before losing their fellow crew members. In the end, Daniels and Tennesseeย return to cryogenic sleep – but at the last second (far too late), Daniels realizes that David has replaced Walter.ย
Alien: Covenantย ends with David coughing up two facehuggerย embryos, which he stores safely on The Covenant. The final shot shows the Covenant – a ship with 2,002 potential Xenomorphย hosts onboardย – floating through space, while David broadcasts a message that could lure many, many, other lifeformsย or civilizations into David’s nightmarish web.ย
It’s never explicitly stated, but the implication is that David’s deadly agenda spreads the Xenomorphย threat across the cosmos – eventually to LV-426, where Ripley and her team have their faithful first encounter with the Xenomorphs.ย
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More Alien: Covenant
SYNOPSIS:ย The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape.
