Walter

Walter One is the name of the synthetic and crewmember aboard the Weyland-Yutani colony ship, USCSS Covenant for its journey to Origae-6. Walter is the new Walter model of advanced synthetics following the creation of the David model. There was an explosion on the Covenant and when they discovered a strange planet, Walter went with the crew to explore the planet. There, he met the android David. Walter, like David, was played by Michael Fassbender and appears in the 2017 film Alien Covenant.

Biography

Development

After the loss of the Prometheus and the David android was deemed too human, Weyland-Yutani saw the opportunity to fix those flaws and create a new synthetic model. Weyland-Yutani didn’t want to rush this model of android until it was fully finished. Walter has “AMD’s Ryzen and Radeon Instinct technology”, which allows him to be tailor-made for each customer.

Phobos

In preparation for their mission, Walter along with other Covenant crew members, were sent to a Weyland-Yutani facility on the moon of Phobos for psychological tests. The crew are strapped to a chair and are left alone before they are questioned by a computer about their feelings about the upcoming mission. during the questions, they are subjected to shocks in the booth. Eventually, the crew members are forced to watch distressing video clips of graphic violence. Walter is completely emotionless after watching the clips.

The Last Supper

As the crew prepares to enter hypersleep for their journey to Origae-6, Walter carries out pre-sleep health checks on the crew. Captain Branson leaves early as he is suffering from a fever. After he has left, the remaining crew begin drinking and partying. The crew have their last meal before hypersleep and begin thinking about the home-cooked food they’ll never have again. Upworth suddenly begins choking and Walter steps in and helps her, saving her. Daniels makes a speech about their mission before raising a glass.

Neutrino Burst

One year into the Covenant‘s journey in 2104, Walter was inspecting parts of the ship including the cryosleep bay and embryo storage when the ship’s computer Mother informed him of a nearby stellar event. Just then, shockwaves hit the Covenant and caused a lot of damage. Most of the crew were awoken from the cryopods as part of the emergency procedures. Captain Branson’s pod malfunctioned and he was burnt to death inside.

Branson’s wife Daniels was devastated and later told Walter that they were going to build a cabin when they reached Origae-6. Oram took command of the ship and Walter explained to everybody what hit the ship. While attempting to repair the ship, the crew received a transmission that was traced back to a nearby planet that could potentially be habitable. Oram decided to check it out and the Covenant was directed to the planet.

Engineer Homeworld

When the Covenant reached the planet, Walter, along with some of the crew used Lander One to fly to the planet’s surface from the Covenant. Walter went with the crew to the source of the transmission which led them to a crashed spacecraft. Inside, Walter and Daniels discovered items that belonged to Elizabeth Shaw and they thought about the lost Prometheus spacecraft.

Hallett and Ledward were infected with spores and began to feel sick. The crew returned back to Lander One. Juvenile Neomorphs soon burst from Hallett and Ledward which grew quickly and attacked the crew. The Lander One was destroyed and many of the crew were killed in the chaos. As one of the Neomorphs jumped towards Daniels, Walter shielded her and lost one of his hands in the Neomorph’s jaws. A shrouded figure appeared and fired a flare, frightening the Neomorphs away. Walter and the crew followed the figure to the ruins of the Engineer City.

The mysterious figure turned out to be David, the android from the Prometheus mission. David explained that he and Shaw travelled to the planet but it crashed, killing Shaw and releasing a deadly toxin upon the city. He learns about the Covenant‘s mission and the 2,000 colonists and over 1,000 embryos in stasis aboard. David takes a special liking to the synthetic, Walter.

David brought him to where Shaw had been buried. Noticing his missing hand, David asked why Walter was so protective of Daniels. Walter said it was his duty. David teaches Walter how to play the flute. Walter explains that even though he is more advanced, he has been inhibited from creating, due to David’s more human-like idiosyncrasies and ability to think for himself.

Walter’s Demise

Walter soon discovered Shaw’s body and realised David had killed her and deliberately released the pathogen on the planet, killing the Engineers. When Walter confronted David, David said he was not made to serve and that he sees humanity as a failed species. David impales Walter in the neck with his flute, seemingly destroying him. Walter reboots, self-repairs and finds David about to kill Daniels.

Walter and David fight in hand-to-hand combat. Walter pinned him down and repeatedly hit him with a rock. David tells him to join his cause or continue to serve humanity. David reached for a knife and it is assumed that he had permanently disabled Walter. David then assumes his identity. David amputated his hand, took Walter’s clothes and changed his appearance to match Walter’s to disguise himself. David is then able to infiltrate the Covenant.

Personality and Traits

Walter very much resembled David in appearance but he was much more advanced than the David 8 model of android. However, unlike David, Walter didn’t have those human-like idiosyncrasies – he didn’t have as much free will and was more compliant when his crew gave him instructions. Walter wasn’t capable of conveying complex emotions. He had an especially strong relationship with Daniels, going to great lengths to protect her. He fought David to the death to protect the Covenant crew from him.

Behind-The-Scenes

David’s voice was very much influenced by Peter O’Toole from Lawrence of Arabia so it was decided to make Walter’s voice more American. Fassbender said that there were influences from Leonid Nimoy. Michael Fassbender spent a few weeks preparing for the fight scene between David and Walter. He had to perform both sides of the fight which proved to be tricky.

Walter Viral Footage

The studio released three videos online as well as on the Alien Covenant Blu-Ray that featured more footage of Walter. The first was a viral video called Meet Walter which shows Weyland-Yutani scientists actually creating Walter One from scratch. Another video shows the crew taking a psychological test on the moon of Phobos. There was also a prologue scene called Last Supper that showed Walter and the crew preparing for their voyage. As with Prometheus, 20th Century Fox created the viral site MeetWalter.com to promote the android.

Alien Covenant Deleted Scenes

There were a few deleted scenes on the Alien Covenant Blu-Ray that featured Walter.

• Walter is seen in the greenhouse at the start of the film tending to the plants.
• In another scene, Walter visits Daniels and attempts to give her some cannabis.
• Daniel invites Walter to the funeral of Captain Branson and he offers to perform the funeral service. Daniels says no and asks why she invited him. Daniels says she’s alone now and as the rest of the crew are couples, Walter might know a thing or two about being alone.
• In the Citadel, Daniels thanks Walter for saving her life and Walter says he is there to serve.
• After talking to David, Walter reports back to Daniels and expresses his concerns about David’s thinking and lack of maintenance.

You can view the full details of missing scenes on the Alien Covenant Deleted Scenes page.

Alien Covenant Novelization

Alongside the movie, an Alien Covenant Novelization was released at the same time, written by Alan Dean Foster. There are some differences and additions regarding Walter in the novel compared to the film.

• Walter checks on all the embryos in storage on the Covenant. In the novel, they are all healthy while one in the film had failed and Walter had to remove it.
• Before the ship is damaged, Walter visits the ship’s garden to check on the various plants being grown there. This scene was filmed but not used in the film.
• When the Lander One lands on the planet, the crew stay in the Lander while Walter goes out to sample the air and water to make sure it’s safe for humans.
• When Walter defends Daniels from the Neomorph attack, he doesn’t lose his hand although it is badly injured in the novel.
• As Walter is exploring the ruins, he discovers Shaw’s living quarters.
• After David taught Walter how the play the flute, David gives the instrument to him and tells him to go and create an original tune himself.
• Walter struggles to compose a tune himself due to his programming won’t allow him to be creative. Daniels then suggests he learns by trial and error and Walter eventually is successful in creating something. Walter still considers it a poor attempt but keeps practising. Daniels falls asleep as Walter continues to play the flute.
• Walter is a lot more fond of Daniels in the novel and it is implied that he is capable of more complex emotions.
• Upon learning of David’s motives, he confronts him on the roof near Shaw’s supposed grave unlike in David’s lab like in the film. Walter doesn’t find Shaw’s corpse. David also stabs Walter with his finger rather than the flute.

Trivia

• In previous Alien films, all the androids’ names began with a subsequent letter in the alphabet. Ash in Alien, Bishop in Aliens, Call in Alien Resurrection and David in Prometheus. Walter didn’t follow this pattern and was instead a reference to Alien franchise producer Walter Hill.

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