AvPGalaxy Exclusive - Early John Logan Alien: Covenant Script!

[NetworkATTH]

What if Naomi was just hesitant to reprise her role if the part she played would be shortened from finding answers at the end of Prometheus, to being introduced midway as an action sidekick to the Covenant crew. We all want Shaw back, but from where I see it, it would be really hard for an actress who already knows the character so well to suddenly be the help. I mean she was probably disappointed with the direction the movie was going with her character and decided that the role she had didn't fit what she knew of the Shaw character.

Having her just help the Covenant crew mid way.....I don't know, it doesn't sound like the Shaw in Prometheus. As much as we all wanted her to return, I don't see a way she could if it was just introduced midway, there probably would have been added exposition etc...Honestly if they wanted to make Alien Covenant they kind of dodged a bullet by not adding Survival Shaw Bear Grills, or at least that's how it sounds to me.

[Evanus]

What if Naomi was just hesitant to reprise her role if the part she played would be shortened from finding answers at the end of Prometheus, to being introduced midway as an action sidekick to the Covenant crew. We all want Shaw back, but from where I see it, it would be really hard for an actress who already knows the character so well to suddenly be the help. I mean she was probably disappointed with the direction the movie was going with her character and decided that the role she had didn't fit what she knew of the Shaw character.

Having her just help the Covenant crew mid way.....I don't know, it doesn't sound like the Shaw in Prometheus. As much as we all wanted her to return, I don't see a way she could if it was just introduced midway, there probably would have been added exposition etc...Honestly if they wanted to make Alien Covenant they kind of dodged a bullet by not adding Survival Shaw Bear Grills, or at least that's how it sounds to me.

Yeah, I agree. Either give her the lead role, or kill her and make her death really meaningful. Sadly they chose to kill her, and make her death sort of meaningful.. but I think it could have been handled better.

[0321recon]

I don't know, it doesn't sound like the Shaw in Prometheus. As much as we all wanted her to return, I don't see a way she could if it was just introduced midway, there probably would have been added exposition etc...

That also could be said of David. David of Prometheus was more ambiguous than what we see in Covenant.

In the end, we got what we got. So we have to live with it.

[NetworkATTH]

I don't know, it doesn't sound like the Shaw in Prometheus. As much as we all wanted her to return, I don't see a way she could if it was just introduced midway, there probably would have been added exposition etc...

That also could be said of David. David of Prometheus was more ambiguous than what we see in Covenant.

In the end, we got what we got. So we have to live with it.

So in the script in question we would have a bunch of exposition from both Shaw and David, David being the unreliable narrator to Shaw's reliable probably, that tells the Covenant crew David has lost his milky marbles. I don't know, it just seems like such a weird thing to do with her character, have her introduced midway just to say "WAIT, DAVID'S THE ASSHOLE, FOLLOW ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE". That's just not the way the character was. Admittedly, I'm just working off what I think is in the script, it could be totally different. But "introduced midway to help the Covenant Crew" after being stranded for so long....yeah that's a really weird and simplistic direction to take the character.

Maybe if they got rid of David instead and made this about David killing the Engineers, but David dying and Shaw surviving only to live among the ruins of the people she wanted answers from, living in the necropolis instead trying to piece together the history of the Engineers; but being unable to grasp their motives. Just giving all hope of escape and wanting to get answers in the wake of David's shitty actions that ruined her dreams, trying to find answers like Ahab and the white whale. Then the Covenant crew show up for the same reasons as the film, but they enter an area contaminated by David's bombing, that Shaw carefully sealed herself away from, and becomes somewhat the antagonist for completely justifiable reasons to the audience, while the Covenant are fleshed out couples that are equally relatable to the audience. The question then becomes, at what price does Shaw want her answers, and does it mean sealing off people who are dying, or does she help them. Has she been gone alone for so long that her faith has completely driven her to the edge surrounded by nothing but monolithic reminders of dead Engineers, that she blames herself for even coming here and ending the Engineers? That the Covenant crew's naive attempt of getting the apple somewhat reflects her own naivety she doesn't want to admit exists? David's words ring through her ears, and so does her response: "I deserve to know why." That would be more appropriate as an exploration of Shaw's character.

But you know, that just makes too much character sense. Let's introduce her midpoint in the script as the hardened survivalist.

I get where you guys are coming from, but that really doesn't sound like something I'd want from Shaw's character.

[0321recon]

I don't know, it doesn't sound like the Shaw in Prometheus. As much as we all wanted her to return, I don't see a way she could if it was just introduced midway, there probably would have been added exposition etc...

That also could be said of David. David of Prometheus was more ambiguous than what we see in Covenant.

In the end, we got what we got. So we have to live with it.

So in the script in question we would have a bunch of exposition from both Shaw and David, David being the unreliable narrator to Shaw's reliable probably, that tells the Covenant crew David has lost his milky marbles. I don't know, it just seems like such a weird thing to do with her character, have her introduced midway just to say "WAIT, DAVID'S THE ASSHOLE, FOLLOW ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE". That's just not the way the character was. Admittedly, I'm just working off what I think is in the script, it could be totally different. But "introduced midway to help the Covenant Crew" after being stranded for so long....yeah that's a really weird and simplistic direction to take the character.

Maybe if they got rid of David instead and made this about David killing the Engineers, but David dying and Shaw surviving only to live among the ruins of the people she wanted answers from, living in the necropolis instead trying to piece together the history of the Engineers; but being unable to grasp their motives. Just giving all hope of escape and wanting to get answers in the wake of David's shitty actions that ruined her dreams, trying to find answers like Ahab and the white whale. Then the Covenant crew show up for the same reasons as the film, but they enter an area contaminated by David's bombing, that Shaw carefully sealed herself away from, and becomes somewhat the antagonist for completely justifiable reasons to the audience, while the Covenant are fleshed out couples that are equally relatable to the audience. The question then becomes, at what price does Shaw want her answers, and does it mean sealing off people who are dying, or does she help them. Has she been gone alone for so long that her faith has completely driven her to the edge surrounded by nothing but monolithic reminders of dead Engineers, that she blames herself for even coming here and ending the Engineers? That the Covenant crew's naive attempt of getting the apple somewhat reflects her own naivety she doesn't want to admit exists? David's words ring through her ears, and so does her response: "I deserve to know why." That would be more appropriate as an exploration of Shaw's character.

But you know, that just makes too much character sense. Let's introduce her midpoint in the script as the hardened survivalist.

I get where you guys are coming from, but that really doesn't sound like something I'd want from Shaw's character.

Great point!

In my part, I just wanted a better fate for her than being butchered and left in a slab. At least in Alien3, they gave Hicks and Newt a beautiful funeral ceremony.

It all goes back to the producers and writers not doing justice to the character, and just focusing on David and the Aliens that they lost their way in the process and perhaps that led to Covenant's dismal box office results. I like many fans of Prometheus had issues with the film, though Shaw wasn't one them, and when they heard what was done to Shaw, perhaps and that's my speculation, that many didn't even bother watching the film.  I had friends who were mad with what was done with her, so its not just me, perhaps more people feel the same, though you don't hear from them in AVP Galaxy or other online sites.

For Awakening, if it ever gets done, I hope someone is there and steers them in the right direction.
 

[Baron Von Marlon]

That's what I want to know. Who was the person or group of persons @ Fox who decided to kill her off since 2012 and on I'd always remember press interviews were Noomi would always talked about wanting to do Prometheus 2 or how the script was coming along. Then, everything went quiet.

I could easily imagine what would of happened with Shaw in Covenant. Shaw was experimented on Though survived and escaped David's lab of horrors. At this junction,  Shaw would look like a hybrid engineer, bald headed with black eyes. She lives in a distant part of the planet. She notices the Covenant transport and quickly goes towards their location. As we see in the film, the group splits apart, Shaw comes across the crew who takes scientific samples and warns them of the habitat. However, she sees what happens to the soldier and she's the one who rushes to take him to the ship, and keep him quarantined. They lock him in the bay while the pilot and scientist stay outside with Shaw when they see the birth of the neo. Shaw realizes that neo is about to burst out of the bay and orders the two women to grab weapons and run while she torches the ship. They run to safety and Shaw blows the ship. They run towards her hideout when the neo chases after the three and Shaw seeing this with the weapon she kills the neo. In the distance, they see the other half of the crew come back and have their own neo encounter and the appearance of David. The two women want to go with the group though, she stops them.

From there, Shaw tells the women of her mission and what occurred when she arrived and how David lost his mind. She hatches a plan to the rescue the rest of the crew from David. The film continues the same as it is until we see david murder half Of the crew via experiments or luring them into his egg dungeon. Shaw reaches the temple to discover what he did and rescues Danny, Lope, and Walter.  we have a boss fight between David and Shaw. Shaw at first takes the upper hand though His strength is too much for her and Walter orders her and Danny to leave and while he finishes David off. The movie remains the same from what we saw with the difference that it's Shaw who gets rid off the xeno in the Covenant. Then, at the end it's Shaw instead of Danny, David reveals himself too.

From writing this, I do see the film being longer though we would spend more time with Shaw and the world she arrived to and how exactly David went mental on her and the engineers.

I'm largely with you on this. Little addition, the forcefield around the planet (it's in the concept art).


Shaw offers to try and shut down the forcefield so the Covenant crew can escape. Walter comes along. They fail.
She ends up on the table (bottom left corner) and Walter is broken.
Daniels finds out about David (bottom right corner). Walter returns.
He battles David for a moment until the Engineers turned xenomorphs arrive.



David wins, body switch, egg grab,... Stuff remains the same except there are more xenos attacking the ship and David regurgitates a xeno embryo.

[0321recon]

That's what I want to know. Who was the person or group of persons @ Fox who decided to kill her off since 2012 and on I'd always remember press interviews were Noomi would always talked about wanting to do Prometheus 2 or how the script was coming along. Then, everything went quiet.

I could easily imagine what would of happened with Shaw in Covenant. Shaw was experimented on Though survived and escaped David's lab of horrors. At this junction,  Shaw would look like a hybrid engineer, bald headed with black eyes. She lives in a distant part of the planet. She notices the Covenant transport and quickly goes towards their location. As we see in the film, the group splits apart, Shaw comes across the crew who takes scientific samples and warns them of the habitat. However, she sees what happens to the soldier and she's the one who rushes to take him to the ship, and keep him quarantined. They lock him in the bay while the pilot and scientist stay outside with Shaw when they see the birth of the neo. Shaw realizes that neo is about to burst out of the bay and orders the two women to grab weapons and run while she torches the ship. They run to safety and Shaw blows the ship. They run towards her hideout when the neo chases after the three and Shaw seeing this with the weapon she kills the neo. In the distance, they see the other half of the crew come back and have their own neo encounter and the appearance of David. The two women want to go with the group though, she stops them.

From there, Shaw tells the women of her mission and what occurred when she arrived and how David lost his mind. She hatches a plan to the rescue the rest of the crew from David. The film continues the same as it is until we see david murder half Of the crew via experiments or luring them into his egg dungeon. Shaw reaches the temple to discover what he did and rescues Danny, Lope, and Walter.  we have a boss fight between David and Shaw. Shaw at first takes the upper hand though His strength is too much for her and Walter orders her and Danny to leave and while he finishes David off. The movie remains the same from what we saw with the difference that it's Shaw who gets rid off the xeno in the Covenant. Then, at the end it's Shaw instead of Danny, David reveals himself too.

From writing this, I do see the film being longer though we would spend more time with Shaw and the world she arrived to and how exactly David went mental on her and the engineers.

I'm largely with you on this. Little addition, the forcefield around the planet (it's in the concept art).


Shaw offers to try and shut down the forcefield so the Covenant crew can escape. Walter comes along. They fail.
She ends up on the table (bottom left corner) and Walter is broken.
Daniels finds out about David (bottom right corner). Walter returns.
He battles David for a moment until the Engineers turned xenomorphs arrive.



David wins, body switch, egg grab,... Stuff remains the same except there are more xenos attacking the ship and David regurgitates a xeno embryo.

Much more could have been done that sadly was dropped. Though, it would had been great to see Khang-Le's Covenant concept used.

[Immortan Jonesy]

I could easily imagine what would of happened with Shaw in Covenant. Shaw was experimented on Though survived and escaped David's lab of horrors. At this junction,  Shaw would look like a hybrid engineer, bald headed with black eyes. She lives in a distant part of the planet. She notices the Covenant transport and quickly goes towards their location.

Insane and worth watching 😎

[Corporal Hicks]

I'll be posting the new ones on the site later today.

[Baron Von Marlon]

Woohoow!

[NetworkATTH]

I'll be posting the new ones on the site later today.

Looking forward to it!

[Denton Smalls]

I'll be posting the new ones on the site later today.

There goes my productivity for the day. GAME OVER MAN!

[sleepyone]

can't stop refreshing

[Corporal Hicks]

Sorry for the delay. I ended up falling to sleep before I got chance to do anything last night. Just waiting for the boss to upload the scripts to the site and it'll be on the front page. 

[whiterabbit]

heh Hicks fell asleep. That is most definitely canon.