Empire's ALIEN COVENANT Exclusive Cover, and Image Scans Revealed!!

[Hard-R]

They are all dead or they've heard about this place and are forming an orderly queue....

All makes sense now.

[echobbase79]

They'll at least live on in the comics if they're all toast. I hate to use this analogy, but like soap operas, anything can be brought back from the dead. So never say never when it comes to Hollywood.

[GrimmVision]

I still don't believe they're Engineers, but for arguments sake, I suppose I'll agree. That being said, They're clearly not all dead. There is simply no way that every single last remaining Engineer was on this planet at the time of David's mass genocide. Especially not if they're a space-faring race. The whooooole point of Prometheus was to go back and explore "the big guy in the chair." Ridley wanted to see that concept realized for nearly 40 years. He's not going to suddenly drop that narrative for something else.

[Beardomorph]

Did you even read the article? The production designer states that the way they designed the Engineer sets is supposed to create more questions regarding the Engineers that could then be answered in future instalments.

'Could.' Ridley always likes a lot of questions and ambiguity, it doesn't mean he answers them. There's also no indication they're ever going back to the planet in Covenant.

The question I have that will probably be explored in the next movie is why there has been no retaliation from the Engineers that were off Paradise when David's attack happened.

Because they're all dead.

Here all week, folks, tip your waiter.

What I was saying is that there is a lot left open for down the line. Whether or not Ridley will address some of these threads is something else entirely. But the potential for Engineers to show up in sequels is absolutely there.

The Engineers on Paradise when David arrives are all wiped out, that much we know. That much we can agree on because it is stated.

What is not stated is left up in the air and can be used down the line for future plot threads, that's called writing101.

We know that at least one Engineer survived the outbreak on LV-223 2000 years ago by going in stasis in a juggernaut. We also know there are many juggernauts on LV223, so that means potentially more Engineers in cryosleep. It's clearly implied as a possibility.

So what that tells us is that the possibility exists for some Engineers to be alive off Paradise.

If the human civilisation on Earth were to be destroyed during the time of the Covenant mission, humans would still exist on the Covenant. If humans can go on that way having just started travelling through space, it's ridiculous to think Engineers - a race that has mastered space travel for at least millenias - can't.

Do you have a reason to believe that a civilisation that has perfected space travel would not have at least a few members of their species off the planet at any given time?

[SpeedyMaxx]

I still don't believe they're Engineers, but for arguments sake, I suppose I'll agree. That being said, They're clearly not all dead. There is simply no way that every single last remaining Engineer was on this planet at the time of David's mass genocide.

What if they were? What then? Because I'm pretty sure that is exactly what this movie intends to say to close the book on both the Engineers and Shaw, and everything from the previous film except David. I'm pretty sure this movie's 'rocks fall, everyone dies' take on it is Scott's final word on the subject.

Ridley wanted to see that concept realized for nearly 40 years. He's not going to suddenly drop that narrative for something else.

Ridley says a lot of things. Ridley drops a lot of things. Ridley also said in 2012 that the alien was 'done' and worn out, and he wanted to move on to new stories and new monsters. Ridley in 2017 is now saying the alien is back in force, giving everyone what they want for their money, and that they're going to do stories that lead directly back to the old ones.

Sometimes fans get so obsessed with old quotes or drawings or whatever and assume they must always be gospel. In reality creativity is very fluid, especially in Hollywood. Ridley Scott says a lot of things that strike him as exciting in the moment, he always has, and he does not necessarily fully commit to any one. Ridley Scott is also a very shrewd businessman. After Prometheus' mixed reception and lacking any clear direction of where to go next he made the calculation that doing this movie and refocusing on the alien and direct prequels would be a winner with audiences, and I'm sure it will be. But it means he has dropped 90% of what he talked about before. And that's okay, that's his prerogative, but that's what's happened here.

Do you have a reason to believe that a civilisation that has perfected space travel would not have at least a few members of their species off the planet at any given time?

What was at least implied in Prometheus is that any Engineers not on their homeworld had been killed by some great catastrophe likely resulting from their own weapons/experiments - wiped out. This is what is shown on LV-223 and it's what's at least implicitly implied happened with LV-426's Engineer/space jockey and its own deadly cargo on the derelict.

There is always the possibility one still exists out there, of course, in terms of fanfic or if someone else should take over the franchise and be dying for more of the big blue dudes. But for all intents and purposes Ridley Scott, who presently controls the franchise, is tying off the plot thread he is no longer interested in by saying 'yes, they went to the planet, David killed the rest, now the story is about David and the alien, have fun.' This is the reality the films are working in.

[GrimmVision]

What was at least implied in Prometheus is that any Engineers not on their homeworld had been killed by some great catastrophe likely resulting from their own weapons/experiments - wiped out. This is what is shown on LV-223 and it's what's at least implicitly implied happened with LV-426's Engineer/space jockey and its own deadly cargo on the derelict.

There is always the possibility one still exists out there, of course, in terms of fanfic or if someone else should take over the franchise and be dying for more of the big blue dudes. But for all intents and purposes Ridley Scott, who presently controls the franchise, is tying off the plot thread he is no longer interested in by saying 'yes, they went to the planet, David killed the rest, now the story is about David and the alien, have fun.' This is the reality the films are working in.

How do you explain the scorpion tail ship from the Empire article? Who was piloting it? Where did it go?

[SpeedyMaxx]

How do you explain the scorpion tail ship from the Empire article? Who was piloting it? Where did it go?

It's either an automated hangar/anchor/whatever, or it goes down with the rest of 'em. Do you seriously think David let it fly away and that that will be part of the scene?

[Beardomorph]

I still don't believe they're Engineers, but for arguments sake, I suppose I'll agree. That being said, They're clearly not all dead. There is simply no way that every single last remaining Engineer was on this planet at the time of David's mass genocide.

What if they were? What then? Because I'm pretty sure that is exactly what this movie intends to say to close the book on both the Engineers and Shaw, and everything from the previous film except David.

You being "pretty sure" about what the movie intends to say without having seen it is a far cry from being able to state your opinion as a done deal.

As for "what if they were? what then?", well if they're all dead, they're all dead, that's fine with me. It just doesn't seem to me to be where this is going. I'm open-minded though, it's not up to me and if Ridley wants to get rid of the Engineers, he can do what he wants.

We can agree to disagree on that, but I just don't see the movie stating anything regarding Engineers off the planet. Unless there is a specific line in the movie stating that David has erased all Engineer life from the Universe, it will be a possibility that there are still members of the species out there. Frankly, I'd be surprised if they went out of their way to state that. For the sake of drama it makes more sense to have Engineers out there eventually crossing paths with the guy who destroyed their home world. It'd be silly to close the door on a potential antagonist for future films.

[SpeedyMaxx]

You being "pretty sure" about what the movie intends to say without having seen it is a far cry from being able to state your opinion as a done deal.

Fine, call it a very educated guess.

Frankly, I'd be surprised if they went out of their way to state that. For the sake of drama it makes more sense to have Engineers out there eventually crossing paths with the guy who destroyed their home world. It'd be silly to close the door on a potential antagonist for future films.

This is the thing, though: I'm pretty sure Ridley Scott doesn't care about that. The studio doesn't care. He's done with all that, they're done. He's going back to what he thinks works - the alien, and what he feels is a strong and relatable new antagonist in David. In their eyes they're scrapping inconvenient material they had to deal with. You're thinking in terms of some long view of the larger franchise decades down the road. Ridley Scott is thinking about this movie and his next one. The fan and critical consensus seems to generally be that the Engineers and Prometheus did not fully land, so they're going back to the alien. That's it. They know people want aliens killing people, they know most of the larger audience does not give a shit about some idea of David fighting big blue dudes they don't know. And I'm saying this as someone who wishes they weren't killing the whole Engineer thread off.

Tell you what: If this movie says or implies anything other than that David killed all the Engineers - if it mentions anything at all about any other surviving members of their civilization - I will owe you a virtual Coke. But if they leave it at that, I hope you'll consider that I'm just calling a cigar a cigar. It's a lazy ending, but I feel very confident that's what is happening.

[Necronomicon II]

[GrimmVision]

It's either an automated hangar/anchor/whatever, or it goes down with the rest of 'em. Do you seriously think David let it fly away and that that will be part of the scene?

So a floating hanger for the Juggernaut? When there's a hanger clearly built into the ground?

If it's a ship, how exactly would he stop such a ship from getting away? The Juggernaut doesn't seem to have a weapons system aside from the Accelerant bay.

[SpeedyMaxx]

If it's a ship, how exactly would he stop such a ship from getting away? The Juggernaut doesn't seem to have a weapons system aside from the Accelerant bay.

We have no idea what weapons the juggernaut has. You're not answering my question: Do you seriously think this scene will end with David letting that ship (if it is even a ship, regardless of your applying human logic to weird movie alien technology we know nothing about) get away?

[Beardomorph]

Tell you what: If this movie says or implies anything other than that David killed all the Engineers - if it mentions anything at all about any other surviving members of their civilization - I will owe you a virtual Coke.

I'm cool with that! The bet's on.

Your view of what Ridley is doing with this movie and the next seems a tad reductive. You're basing this on selected quotes and what we know of some behind the scenes stuff, but you're also painting a picture that is solely based on these quotes, as if they were the full story.

A lot of the movie seems to be relying on the Engineers. The fact that they're dead on the planet the Covenant crew lands on was probably designed so that the movie wasn't overcrowded. By all accounts the movie is already "relentless" once shit starts to hit the fan, so adding live Engineers in the mix on top of xenomorphs, neomorphs, humans and robots probably was too much to juggle with. Doesn't stop the movie from developing ideas about their civilisation on their home world so IMO it doesn't feel like Ridley doesn't care for them. The studio required Aliens and he probably thought dead Engineers would be better for the sake of focus. Educated guess as well, although it stays just a guess

We'll know soon enough.

[Elder-wolf]

Ridley is far from done with the engineers, he has stated that himself. Now on the other hand, these engineers in the photos look like this because of budget reasons i presume.. it would take a very very long time to get actors the same height and to make them identical to the engineer in prometheus.. the engineers in these pictures alone took 8 hours or more to get right.. and doing that to how many people would take a long time.. so doing it the right way to look like the engineers from prometheus would mean the budget would be sky high and we would still be waiting for it's release to date.. and all that money spent to kill them off in one scene? What a waste of budget.. and it would take away a lot more from the movie cause the budget would be hit hard, causing ridley to cut scenes and change ideas to fit the budget.. i hate to admit that these are engineers..

It's like us saying that humans are not really humans because they have different features like asians, white, black, packi etc.. i lkve engineers but also you have to look at the fact if it wasn't for david or prometheus then i am afraid we woukd be extinct in due course.. david is saving humanity by counter attacking them, as much as i want the engineers not gone, i want humanity more.

[GrimmVision]

We have no idea what weapons the juggernaut has. You're not answering my question: Do you seriously think this scene will end with David letting that ship (if it is even a ship, regardless of your applying human logic to weird movie alien technology we know nothing about) get away?

I do believe that, yes. If it has the same warp speed capabilities shown at the end of Prometheus, it should have no trouble getting way.