Alien Covenant Trivia

Posted by Darkness on February 1, 2021 (Updated: 22-Aug-2023)

Below you’ll find plenty of Alien Covenant Trivia.

 Alien Covenant Trivia

Concept Art – Ruins

Pre-Production

  • In November 2015, Ridley Scott stated Alien Covenant would be the second film in this new Alien trilogy and the films will eventually lead to the events in the first Alien film. He also mentioned previously there may even be a fourth prequel. There has been reports that the script for the next prequel has already been written and was to be titled ‘Alien: Awakening’. Given the low box office takings of Alien Covenant and it’s somewhat poor reception, the film has been shelved for the time being.
  • In 2012, when Alien Covenant was in early development, Ridley Scott said it was going to be more faithful sequel to Prometheus with the title being ‘Paradise Lost‘. It was going to focus on the backstory of the Engineers and how the Engineers created humans and Xenomorphs. Scott wanted to do this story because he felt the Xenomorph has been overused. Given the fan reaction to Prometheus, the story was abandoned and he introduced the Xenomorph a lot earlier.
  • In early drafts of the script, the incoming transmission was going to be a prayer but it was changed to a John Denver song.
  • A few ideas from Jon Spaihts’ original draft for Prometheus have been used in Alien Covenant. David was a lot more hostile to humans and suspicious of their actions. These ideas were taken out of Prometheus to make it a more standalone film.
  • In the early drafts of the film, there was going to be a battle between the Neomorph and the Xenomorph.
  • In a later draft, the second Neomorph and Xenomorph were going to battle Daniels and Lope when they escape the Engineer temple. This scene was kept for the novelization.
 Alien Covenant Trivia

Ridley Scott & Cast

Production

  • Principal photography took 74 days and for $111 million.
  • Ridley Scott used ARRI Alexa cameras for the first time on Alien Covenant. He later used them again in his next film 2017’s All the Money in the World.
  • Practical models were used on the set to give the actors something real to act against instead of something that would be computer generated later on.
  • The scene where the Lander lands on the planet were filmed in New Zealand.
  • When filming his encounter with a Facehugger, actor Billy Crudup couldn’t stop laughing in the first few takes because he knew what was about to happen.
  • Some scenes from the film were filmed in Sydney, Australia at Fox Studios. The X-Men: Apocalypse premiere was happening at the same time and Ridley Scott allowed Michael Fassbender to attend it.
  • Alien Covenant was originally going to be shot in 3D like Ridley Scott’s previous films but he decided against it after people had lost interest in 3D films.
 Alien Covenant Trivia

Daniels

Cast

  • Rebecca Ferguson was offered the role of Daniels but she turned it down so she could do the another alien horror film called Life.
  • Alien Covenant is the second time Michael Fassbender and Katherine Waterston have appeared together in a film – the first was 2015’s Steve Jobs.
  • Alien Covenant is the second time James Franco and Katherine Waterston have appeared together in a film – the first was The Letter.
  • Katherine Waterston and Billy Crudup both also starred in 2014’s Glass Chin.
  • Demián Bichir and Callie Hernandez both appeared in 2013’s Machete Kills.
  • Katherine Waterston and Carmen Ejogo appeared in 2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
  • Danny McBride was surprised that he was cast in the role that he was. Usually, as a comedian, he expected his character to be annoying and be killed very early on.
  • The hairstyle that Daniels has in the film is based on a wig worn by Ezra Miller, who starred in 2016’s Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them along with Katherine Waterston. Miller helped Waterston with her audition video for Alien Covenant. While filming it in his trailer, Waterston noticed the wig he wore and asked if she could try it on.
  • When Ridley Scott offered Waterston the role, his offer letter stated that he wanted the required material from the actors quickly and that he would have dinner with the actors every day of filming to discuss their characters.
  • In the film’s prologue with Peter Weyland, it was the first time Guy Pearce had played the character without any makeup. He did appear as himself in a viral TED Talk video for Prometheus but in the film itself, he had a lot of old-age makeup to play the elderly Weyland.
 Alien Covenant Trivia

Daniels in New York

Post Production

  • The Alien Covenant Blu-ray featured many deleted scenes with regards to David’s actions and motivations. We would have seen more of David in his laboratory, mixing parts of Neomorphs using the black liquid to create the Xenomorph eggs. It’s implied that David’s plan was to lure the colonists to Planet 6 to use as hosts for his experiments rather than a means of escape. The scenes would have hinted that David was going to work with Weyland-Yutani and use Daniels to create an Alien Queen. He wanted to use his experiments to take over the galaxy.
  • There were some flashback scenes filmed that gave Branson more screentime to show his and Daniels relationship but was cut from the film to a small cameo appearance. We were going to see Daniels and Branson in a futuristic New York and Daniels grieving over Branson’s death.
  • Throughout the first act of the film, a lot of Jerry Goldsmith’s score from Alien was used.
  • Many sound effects are music cues from the film are exactly the same as the ones found in Alien.
 Alien Covenant Trivia

Lander

Other Things

  • At the start when Branson’s corpse is ejected into space, it’s similar to how Kane was ejected into space from Alien. Though here, the crew were clearly mourning his loss while in Alien, it was fairly cold.
  • When we see “Walter” on the bridge of the Covenant at the end of the film, we see the drinking bird on the desk which is the same one from the Prometheus. This is another hint that Walter is actually David. The drinking bird was also seen in the Nostromo in Alien.
  • In the flashback sequence when David drops the black liquid on the Engineers, the canisters being dropped looks like a DNA helix for a moment before detonating. Ironically, the black liquid actually breaks down DNA and re-configures it.
  • Ledward in Alien Covenant, Kane in Alien and Fifield in Prometheus were the first people infected in the films. What they had in common was that they were all smokers.
  • When the Xenomorph kills Ricks and Upworth in the shower at the end, this is a homage to 1960’s Psycho. It’s also very similar to the way Parker and Lambert were killed in Alien.
  • The scene where David swallows the Alien embryos – the idea for the scene was found when Ridley Scott was doing research for his next film Cartel and found girls were swallowing cocaine capsules to smuggle drugs.
  • While exploring the planet, Daniels finds some dog tags which belong to Shaw.
  • Alien Covenant‘s events take place on December 5, 2104 and ends a few weeks later in 2105 which is 17 years prior to the events in Alien.
  • This is the first Alien film to be released after H.R. Giger’s death.
  • The terrace surrounded by cypress trees, where David looks upon the Engineers’ city, was inspired by the “Isle of the Dead” paintings by artist Arnold Böcklin. This was also a homage to H.R. Giger, who had done his version of the same painting in his bio-mechanical style of art.
  •  Alien Covenant Trivia

    Bridge

    When Tennessee regains control of the lander, he says over the comms “A walk in the park,” which is what Parker said after landing the lander on LV-426.

  • Ridley Scott originally thought the Derelict ship in Alien to be a type of bomber. Prometheus implied it was the case and Covenant showed David using it as a bomber when he dropped the black liquid on the Engineer homeworld.
  • Alien Covenant marks 20 years since the Xenomorph was seen exclusively in an Alien film (1997’s Alien Resurrection) and ten years since the last film (2007’s AvP Requiem).
  • The film’s first shot is of David opening his eye staring into camera, which is like 1982’s Blade Runner and 2017’s Blade Runner 2049.
  • The construction vehicles in the Terraforming Bay of the Covenant have the branding of JCB (Joseph Cyril Bamford Excavators Limited) which is a British heavy equipment manufacturer.
  • This is only the second film in the series to contain nudity – the first was 1997’s Alien Resurrection and the failed Ripley clones. Technically, you saw a magazine cut-out in Alien showing nudity during the Ripley-Ash fight.
  • “Planet 4” is not an official name given to the planet by the Covenant crew – its name was featured on a track from the official Alien Covenant soundtrack.
  • Walter says the events in Prometheus took place 10 years earlier but in fact, it’s actually 11 years.
  • The song being hummed by Shaw in the early transmission was “Take Me Home Country Roads” from John Denver’s 1971 album Poems, Prayers, & Promises. The song is is later featured in Logan Lucky released 3 months later. Katherine Waterston also appears in both movies.
  • The Covenant discovering a strange transmission is similar into the way the Nostromo encountered a transmission and landed on LV-426.
  • When Ridley Scott made Prometheus, he wanted to answer the question who would make the Xenomorph in the first place and for what purpose. Alien Covenant continues with that.
  • The date of the mission is December 5th which is the same birthday as Walt Disney. The android is also named Walter although this was a reference to Walter Hill.
  • Ridley Scott said that Danny McBride reminded him of Slim Pickens and his character’s appearance is a nod to Stanley Kubrick’s use of Pickens in Dr. Strangelove.
  • The crew managed to guide and seal the Xenomorph up in the Covenant which is similar to what they tried to do in Alien 3, albeit much more successfully here.
  • In Alien, Ripley refuses to open the airlock door to let the crew in but Ash overrides it. In Alien Covenant, Faris refuses to open the door but the alien escapes anyway.
  • The helmets seen in the film are similar to the ones in Prometheus where you have an LCD screen providing information and video feeds. Like Prometheus, these were real functioning screens and not just props.
  • This is the second time in the Alien series where a major character from the previous entry is killed before the next film begins. We had Hicks die at the start of Alien 3 and we had Shaw from Prometheus die before Covenant began.
  • When Daniels traps the Xenomorph in the truck on the Terraforming Bay, she says, “I got you, you son of a bitch!” This is what Ripley says near the end of Alien after she blows up the Nostromo, thinking she destroyed the Xenomorph.
  • Also, in the final battle, Daniels says they’re going to “blow this fucker into space.” This is the same line Ripley gives in Alien when describing how to get rid of the creature.
  • In China, the film was cut down to 116 minutes and features a lot less screen time of the Xenomorph and Neomorphs. The scene of David kissing Walter was also removed.
  • When we see David’s laboratory and see his failed experiments, it’s similar to the scene in Alien Resurrection where we see the failed Ripley clones.

Marketing

  • A prologue webisode called “The Last Supper” was released online to show the crew before the film came out. None of the footage was included in the film but was featured in the the trailer.
  • The film’s tagline is a reference to The Divine Comedy.
  • Just like for David in Prometheus, there was a viral advert for Walter.
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