New Novel Bridges Gap Between Prometheus And Alien: Covenant

Director Ridley Scott returned to the Alien franchise with the recently released Alien: Covenant.

The movie turned out to be more of a sequel to Prometheus than a prequel to the first Alien movie, even though it detailed the origins of the dreaded xenomorphs. It received mixed reactions despite its modest success at the box office.

But even though Scott’s latest film in the series followed up the events of Prometheus, it left a lot of gaping holes in the story of Elizabeth Shaw and the devious android David—fortunately, their story will be further explained in Alan Dean Foster’s upcoming novel, Alien: Covenant – Origins.

Foster spoke about the novel on his own website where he revealed the exact timeframe of the story and how he approached writing it, as well as the official novelization of Covenant.

“The official release date of the novelization of ALIEN:COVENANT is 23 May.” Foster wrote. “In it I have tried, as I always have over the years, to be as true as possible to the film while adding what original material I could. As for ALIEN:ORIGINS, the original novel that fits chronologically between PROMETHEUS and AC, in it I hope to have been able to have added a tiny bit to the canon. As always, I work as a combination author and fan, and I think (I hope) that comes through in the finished work.”

Some fans expressed disappointment that Alien: Covenant did not explicitly reveal what happened to Dr. Shaw after she departed the Engineers’ weapon installation in search of their home planet. Though a short film in promotion of Covenant showed the character repairing Michael Fassbender’s David before entering hypersleep, the movie itself only made allusions to her eventual fate.

But that’s never enough for some fans, who need to be told or shown in explicit detail what has happened. They’ll learn more about Dr. Shaw before the events of the latest film when Foster’s novel finally released.


Alien: Covenant is now in theaters.

SYNOPSIS: 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.

MORE ALIEN: COVENANT NEWS:

• Alien: Covenant Tops Box Office In Opening Weekend
• Does Elizabeth Shaw Appear in Alien: Covenant?
• Alien: Covenant’s Prometheus and Alien (1979) Connections Explained
• Alien: Covenant Official Review

Photo Credit: Twentieth Century Fox