You can ‘Run’ but you can’t hide… so suggests the first teaser image from ‘Prometheus‘ sequel and ‘Alien‘ prequel ‘Covenant’ heading our way next spring…
When Prometheus arrived in cinemas in 2014 it arguably tried to have its extra-terrestrial cake and eat it – solemnly downplaying its connections to the original Alien franchise (simply acknowledging that it was set in the same universe) but all the white raising its eyebrows and giving you the wink that it was a prequel just dying to unleash its xenomorphs at you. It was largely a disappointment, that mix of bait and switch satisfying neither camp and many saw it is as ambitious but a wasted opportunity.
When it was announced there would be a follow-up, there was very much a collective ‘Really? We’re waiting to be impressed!‘ attitude and a mild curiosity as to which way the next film would tilt.
After much speculation and even changing of title to give you a clue (the sequel to that prequel is now called Alien: Covenant) we seem to have or answer in the image being used as the teaser poster for the production. Somewhat echoing the Alien egg, the minimalist image simply shows the features of the Alien surrounded by darkness – an indicator that the more familiar version of the creature may be back and the tone could be similar to the original 1979 outing.
Ridley Scott returns as director and Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender will be back (alongside new faces Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston and Danny McBride). The official synopsis suggests that the ‘Covenant’ space-ship finds what its crew initially believe to be a ‘paradise’ world… only to discover that its only inhabitant is the synthetic ‘David’ (Fassbender) whom we met in Prometheus. We also strongly suspect that something cold, dangerous and with acid for blood may also be lurking around as well…
Alien: Covenant is released by Twentieth Century Fox on 19th May 2017.
