The first part of this article covers the 12 deleted and extended scenes found on the Alien Covenant Blu-Ray set. The second part includes scenes that were in either the script, the early test screenings or the trailers. Some information also came from the Alien Covenant novelization from Alan Dean Foster. Not all of the alternate sequences from the novelization have been included here because some of those were Alan Dean Foster’s creations and not scripted or filmed.
Prologue (Extended) (4m 56s)
This is the longest deleted scene on the Blu-Ray set. During the film’s prologue there was some extended dialogue between David and Weyland while David plays the piano. David explains what Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold – Entry of the Gods Into Valhalla is about, telling Weyland that it is about God’s abandoning their creations due to their displeasure with their creation’s greed and vanity, only to realise that the Gods themselves share the same flaws.
Walter in Greenhouse (57s)
There is a short scene where Walter is tending to a greenhouse aboard the Covenant, whistling to himself as he does so. There’s a brief dialogue exchange where Mother tells Walter music helping plants grow is a myth. He asks why she thinks he was whistling to the plants. Mother then tells him a neutrino burst was detected which damages the ship.
Oram and Daniels (Extended) (1m 4s)
After the crew access the damage on the Covenant, Oram tells Daniels that Jacob was a genuine leader and he admired him. Oram orders Daniels to take some time off and “cry it out.” Daniels tells him she can mourn in her own way.
Walter Visits Daniels (1m 30s)
There’s a brief scene where Walter visits Daniels in her quarters (after Oram removes her from active duty) and offers her some cannabis to relax.
Daniels Bedroom Flashback (1m 37s)
The flashback seems to take place in place of the previous deleted scene after Daniels is sitting in her quarters. The flashback shows Daniels and her partner Jacob Branson in an apartment on Earth during a snowstorm. Jacob wakes her up to show some modifications he has been making to his design for a log cabin he’s planning on building when they arrive at Origae-6. Afterwards Daniels looks out of the windows at the snow falling on the city.
Jacob’s Funeral (Extended) (1m 26s)
After Daniels invites Walter to join in with Jacob’s funeral, Walter offers to perform a funeral service. After Daniels turns him down, Walter asks why she invited him. Daniels explains that she’s now alone in a crew made of couples and that she thought Walter might know a thing or two about being on his own.
Ledwards Fall (39s)
As Karine is taking an injured Ledward back to the lander, he trips up momentarily.
Crossing the Plaza (Extended) (55s)
As the crew make their way to the Citadel, the characters come to a huge hole in the middle of the plaza. One of the crew throw a flare down there and we can see multiple Engineer ships at the bottom.
Daniels Thanks Walter (1m 19s)
While in the Citadel, Daniels takes a moment to thank Walter for diving in front of the Neomorph and saving her life. He tells her that he is “here to serve.“ She says there is so much that doesn’t make sense and Walter says he’ll talk to David about it “brother to brother”.
Rosenthal Prayer (1m 6s)
This scene takes place just before Rosenthal is killed. She’s on her own in part of the Citadel when she puts her weapon down and takes her jacket off. She says a prayer in Hebrew and then a Neomorph is seen creeping down a tunnel towards her.
Walter Reports Back (39s)
After having had a chance to talk to David and seen his quarters and Shaw’s grave, Walter reports his impressions back to Oram, Daniels and Lope. He expresses his concern about David’s tangential thinking and lack of maintenance. They wonder where Rosenthal went so Oram decides to go and look for her.
Stairs to Eggroom (Extended) (31s)
The final deleted scene shows Oram descending the stairs to the Eggroom. Oram smells something strange and David dips his fingers into some ointment nearby. He passes it to Oram and tells him it’s a lot like lavender. Oram takes it and rubs it under his nose to hide the smell.
Continue on to Part 2 to find all the deleted scenes from the Trailers, TV Spots and early test screenings.
The following deleted scenes were found in trailers, TV Spots and the early test screenings. The novelization is also used as a reference for some of these scenes.
Checking the Air (Source: Crew)
Originally it was scripted and shot that Walter would use a handheld device to check the air quality. This was then shortened to a line of dialogue where Walter did a chemical analysis and told the shuttle crew it was safe to come out. This was also cut from the final film.
There is a similar sequence in Alan Dean Foster’s novelization but when we spoke to Mr Foster, he said that sequence wasn’t in the script he was provided and that was something he added to the novel himself which would indicate the addition to the filming script was later on during production.
Record Player (Source: TV Spots, The Art and Making of Alien: Covenant)
In the various TV spots set to “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” there’s a very brief shot of what appears to be a record player (the record coloured blue or red) playing in a crew cabin. According to The Art Of book, it’s actually Jacob’s turntable and Daniels retrieves it when she is mourning him and looking over his various belongings. In the novelization, Daniels is listening to Nat King Cole’s Unforgettable on it.
Though the scenery through the window looks like Paradise and would suggest it’s on the lander, this is actually Daniels’ quarters above the Covenant which we can tell from the window design.
“Come with me… if you want to stay alive.” (Source: Test Screening)
When David comes to the aid of the Covenant landing party during the Neomorph attack, instead of telling the crew to “come with me,” there’s extended dialogue where he references slightly The Terminator and says “come with me… if you want to stay alive.”
Rosenthal’s Extended Death (Source: Test Screening, Trailers)
The scene in which the Neomorph kills Rosenthal was slightly extended in earlier test screenings. The Neomorph slowly rises behind Rosenthal – similar to the way the Alien rises in front of Lambert in Alien – and instead of instantly killing her, there’s a pause where Rosenthal swears at the Neomorph before reaching for her weapon.
There is also a brief shot of Rosenthal screaming in the trailers that was including one of the test screenings during the death scene. It’s possible this was an incomplete effects shot, missing the Neomorph attacking her neck.
The Crossing (Source: Test Screening, Film Crew)
Unlike the other marketing videos, The Crossing was filmed as part of the actual film by Ridley Scott. In the October and December test screenings, the entire prologue video was included in the film as the flashback sequence. In the finished film, the flashback sequence was trimmed down to start with David arriving on Paradise and commencing his genocide of the Engineers.
The scene originally started with David’s severed head floating outside the Derelict ship. Shaw is furious with him and he eventually convinces her to bring his head back in and re-attach to it to his body as per the released footage.
According to Ridley Scott, the entire flashback sequence was nearly removed from the film but he insisted and some of the sequence was retained in the finished film. We’re unable to verify the following but according to someone who claimed to have attended a test screening in February, the scene was completely absent from that cut of the film.
David Looks Over The Egg (Source: Interview)
Matt Hatton, one of the illustrators on Alien: Covenant, mentioned in an interview that there was a very short scene in an earlier script where David is showing Oram around the nursery and demonstrates that he is able to look over the Alien eggs without anything happening.
Alternate Chestbursting (Source: Test Screening)
In both October and December test screenings, Oram’s chestburster scene was slightly different to the finished cut. In both, the chestburster emerged with the back of its head first. It looked clearly phallic and caused some laughter from the audience. This was later reversed to have the chestburster emerge face first in the theatrical release.
David vs. Walter (Source: Test Screening)
The December test screening featured slightly different editing during the end of the fight sequence between David and Walter. There was no shot of David reaching for the knife before Walter brought the rock down. The next that was seen of “Walter” was him running from the Citadel, without that lingering shot of him looking over his shoulder into the Citadel.
The Neomorph vs. the Alien (Source: Test Screening, Novelization, Publicity Stills)
The novelization of Alien: Covenant featured a brief fight sequence between the Neomorph and the Alien that didn’t make it into the film. It starts similar to the scene as reported in the testing screenings (detailed below), with Daniels and Lope trying to shoot both creatures as they appear to ran towards the characters.
However, both Daniels and Lope run out of ammo and begin to retreat towards the descending loader platform and the Neomorph attacks the Alien. Both creatures attack each other, trying to claw at each other and stab each other with their tails. In the end, the Alien “disembowels” the Neomorph and then follows Daniels and Lope to the loader.
In the October screening, the fight scene was completely absent but there was still a brief sequence featuring both the Alien and the Neomorph. While Daniels and Lope are outside the Citadel, waiting for Tennessee to come down with the loading platform, the second Neomorph appears and charges them.
At the same time, the Alien appears out of the entrance to the Citadel and starts to run towards them from the opposite direction. Running for the shuttle, back to back, Daniels and Lope fire in opposite directions at the Alien and the Neomorph (as seen in the publicity still below). The Alien evades Lope’s shots but Daniels is able to eventually take down the Neomorph.
Alternate Ricks and Upworth Death (Source: Test Screening, Leaked Footage)
In the test screenings, the deaths of Ricks and Upworth were slightly extended and more graphic. There was a slightly longer cut of the Alien’s jaw retracting from Ricks’ face, focusing on his mutilated face. There was also a full body shot of the Alien leaping through the glass partition and landing on Upworth.
Update 23-Apr-22: The footage has finally been leaked. YouTuber Video Drechsler uploaded the video. The music is very different but we believe the music was changed by the uploader just to avoid YouTube copyright.
The Red Corridor (Source: Trailer)
The second trailer featured several “money shots” of the Alien, including this brief shot of the Alien leaping down a red lit corridor aboard the Covenant. This scene wasn’t in the finished film. The sequence was very similar to the way in which Sir Ridley Scott had originally wanted the Alien to move when Dallas was in the vents in the original Alien. He was unable to achieve it with the technology at the time.
Alternate End Sequence (Source: Test Screenings, Novelization)
In both the October and December test screenings and the novelization, David doesn’t reveal himself to Daniels, she goes to sleep peacefully. In the October screening and the novelization, David then goes to check on the embryo storage where he has already stored the embryonic facehuggers (the novelization has them as eggs, rather than facehuggers).
In the December test screenings, it plays out the same way but instead of the Aliens already in cryostorage, David regurgitates them as seen in the finished film. In both test screenings, he then proceeds down the colonist cryostorage area listening to Das Rheingold, doing a little jump where he playfully kicks his heels together.
In neither test screening did David record a message as Walter to transmit back to the Network. However, in the novelization he asks Mother to open a secure line back to Weyland-Yutani’s headquarters back on Earth.
