20th Century Fox has announcedRidley Scott’s return to the universe he created inAlienwithAlien: Covenant. This will be the second chapter in aprequel trilogythat began withPrometheus. It will connect directly to Scott’s 1979 seminal work of science fiction. The studio has released the official title treatment, which gives us our first look at the new logo.
Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise. But it actually turns out to be a dark, dangerous world. And the sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.
What happened toNoomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw, who was last seen carrying the severed head of David? The actress is not mentioned in the official press release that went out his morning for this sci-fi prequel. It has long been said that she is returning to reprise her role. And as of this morning, she is still listed on theIMDBpage for the movie. As of today,Michael Fassbenderseems to be the only confirmed cast member.
Back in September, directorRidley Scottwas calling hisPrometheussequel Alien: Paradise Lost. Last week, the filmmaker revealed in a new interview withIndieWirethat the title had changed yet again toAlien: Covenant. Here’s what the filmmaker had to say, about how he was working on this sequel when he was approached to makeThe Martian.
“I’ve got no plan. I go from pillar to post randomly. I have this childlike fascination and thrill of doing it. I was going to be doing what will be calledAlien: Covenant, which starts shooting next February, and we were struggling then with the screenplay there and then there was a phone call, somebody saying, ‘Listen, we’ve got this thing which is completely written calledThe Martian, and I said, ‘Huh.’ And I sped read it in an hour and by mid-afternoon, I talked to Fox and said, ‘I need to talk toDrew Goddard.'”
The director didn’t reveal why this new title change was made, but he did reveal in an earlier interview that the title came from the John Milton poem ‘Paradise Lost’. The filmmaker said that it “inspired” his story, while teasing a connection to the original 1979 classicAlien. Here’s whatRidley Scotthad to say in an interview that took place in September.
“Have you ever read Paradise Lost, by Milton? In a funny kind of way, it’s an interesting basis for the darkness of [Prometheus 2]. Where the good-looking guy, who is evil as s-t, gets all the girls and goes to the nightclubs. The other guy, who is not quite as good-looking, is boring as hell and stays home. So in a funny kind of way, we used that as the basis for it, it’ll beAlien: Paradise Lost. Which is very spooky, because it continues after the last one, where Elizabeth Shaw [Noomi Rapace] says, ‘I wanna go where they came from.’ And you’ve gotMichael Fassbenderin two parts, so she’ll slowly put him back together. They will go to the world of the Engineer. That’s where they’re going to go. They will find out who would design such an awful bio-mechanoid creature, like a massive piece of bacteria.”
Michael Fassbenderis confirmed, but no other cast has been announced at this time. AndNoomi Rapace’s omission from this official PR will surely have people question what happened to her.Ridley Scottis directing from a script byJack Paglen,Michael GreenandJohn Logan. Production is scheduled to begin in January 2016. What do you think of this new title treatment?
