One of the film's shortcomings was how it felt like the classic Alien was squeezed into the the last portion of the movie. From the fast facehuggings, fast gestation to the underwhelming appearance of the adult that just blindly runs at everything - it was all executed in such a way that gave no consideration for what has come before. And it was all done for the sake of keeping the film under a certain timeframe. The film was already quite fast-paced by the midway point, but by the end it was cutting from scene to scene at a horribly fast rate with absolutely zero time to breathe and it largely left the last moments with the iconic Alien as being completely vacuous.
Now, I understand the movie needs to be at least half an hour longer to give some breathing room and prevent a rushed pace. But I think also the story structure/Alien lore could benefit from being switched up a bit.
One thing which I think could fix the issues to do with this is have the Covenant crew meet David first, not after the Neomorph attack. David could then explain his story (not revealing his experiments yet), mingle with Walter a bit and talk about Shaw. The rest of the crew could be elaborated on somewhat more (so they're not just a bunch of red shirts) and a sense of discovery and mystery could be built surrounding the planet as they eventually go exploring. This way would give the film quite a higher build-up.
Perhaps then Oram could walk in on David's experiments which would then lead David taking him on his "house of horrors" tour, which would then in turn lead to him getting facehugged. But because now it happens earlier in the film, it's now possible to have a longer gestation period which would be more in line with the established lore.
Then cut to the other crew finding the crashed Juggernaut, becoming infected with spores, then the Neomorph attack.
David would save them, but then back at David's hideout, the surviving crew would then then discover Oram unconscious with the facehugger dead beside him. David could possibly have his rant here about his contempt for humanity here. The next task would be to try and get Oram back to infirmary aboard Covenant.
There's no need for two classic Aliens. Instead, the landing platform battle could be with a remaining Neomorph. It wouldn't be 'till they get back to the Covenant that Oram would burst. There's no need for Lope to get facehugged.
Please understand this idea is written as very bare bones, but I think rearranging/altering some of these key events in the film would have given way more time for characterisation, tension, and story telling. It would also enable a more effective slow pace with the classic Alien and be more in tune with established lore.
