Alien Covenant trailer, interview w/Katherine Waterston, & preview scenes!

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

The wait is over. The first trailer for ALIEN: COVENANT is here! Check it out below and then join me for a chat with star Katherine Waterston and a rundown of the sneak peek of scenes I saw a few weeks ago!

Certainly one of the most anticipated movies of 2017, Ridley Scott's ALIEN: COVENANT has a lot at stake for fans of the series. While PROMETHEUS was a success, the ALIEN prequel film left many divided and many hungry for those black, shiny, drooling, double-fanged xenomorphs that have defined the threat of the series since Scott's 1979 ALIEN through the last rather atrocious AVP: REQUIEM. Well, you can rest easy, as Scott apparantly heard you and has stepped up the xenomorph game in a big way for his follow-up to PROMETHEUS, which is very clearly an ALIEN film, rather than solely an Engineer one. A few weeks ago, Fox invited press, including myself, to see an early look at some scenes from ALIEN: COVENANT, as well as the new trailer, which you can check out above. In addition, I had the opportunity to sit down and talk to Katherine Waterston, who plays Daniels in the film, a much stronger looking and assured protagonist than what we had with Noomi Rapace in PROMETHEUS and much more akin to Sigourney Weaver's Ripley. Take a look at our chat about the film below and keep scrolling for a full description and reaction of the scenes I previewed for ALIEN: COVENANT.

SCENE 1: The Covenant approaching the planet

We see The Covenant, another massive, sprawling spaceship, much like the one in PROMETHEUS approaching a planet (it's unclear what planet exactly). We see the crew inside the main deck, including Danny McBride. It's all techo-talk as they approach the planet and its very reminiscent of the approach to the planet in PROMETHEUS. The scene then cuts to a dropship within The Covenant, preparing to land and explore. It's a nod to James Cameron's ALIENS to a point, as everyone is getting strapped in "rollercoaster style", looking nervous and excited. Well, everyone except Michael Fassbender's dark-haired android, Walter, who is pretty emotionless and looking ready to do what is required. Everyone, including Katherine Waterston and Billy Crudup (who is apparently the leader of this endeavor) is decked out in recon-explorer type gear, weapons included. These definitely aren't scientists trying to find God. The planet is stormy, vast, and a bit more lush than what we saw from the planet in PROMETHEUS (again, it's unclear what planet this actually is).

SCENE 2: A Bloody Good Return

The scene opens on Danny McBride communicating from The Covenant in orbit to the recon team onboard. “Are we talking quarantine protocoals?" he says, as we cut to the planet surface, where shit has obviously gone wrong. Something has happened to one of the crew members (which is likely a result of the black spores that someone steps on in the trailer), a man who appears infected. His skin is pale and breathing labored. Two of the other crew members, played by Carmen Ejogo and Amy Seimetz, are carrying the man back to the dropship, which is docked in a grassy field. The atmosphere is dark, the clouds stormy, the area windy. It looks foreboding.

Outside the ship, the infected man pukes up some black goo and everyone freaks out (I mean, who wouldn't?) But, they bring him aboard the shuttle regardless, seeing as Charlize Theron isn't there with a blowtorch this time. Ejogo takes him into the medbay and starts to strip him down. The infected man is freaking out, but never says a word, too focused on what's going on…inside his body.

We then cut to another part of the planet's surface where Billy Crudup is with another team of explorers who are heading back to the dropship. They've got an infected man as well and are also heading back to the dropship. It's obvious things have gone very wrong since that initial approach to the planet and this is the first moment when these explorers are about to see what they've gotten themselves into.

Back in the medbay on the dropship (you can see snippets of this scene in the trailer), the infected man has some kind of outbreak on his back, like a series of bloody pestules. Blood spurts out of them and he goes into convulsions, shaking wildly. Carmen Ejogo is in the room with him and she starts freaking out at his condition. Amy Seimetz is communicating with The Covenant, freaking out herself, trying to convey what's happening. She starts crying and kind of losing it.

Back in the medbay, Ejogo is trying to help the infected man. Spikes suddenly pop out of his back and cut her. She reels back and then his spine seems to BURST OPEN and fall to the floor, some type of creature attached to it. Like a newborn, it kind of wiggles around a bit as it "wakes up". We get a closer look at the creature and it's basically a dog-sized white-colored xenomorph with spikes on its back. It seems to grow slightly bigger with each passing second. It charges at Ejogo and she kicks it away. It turns to come back, attacking her, scratching and clawing. She defends herself as they struggle in a huge puddle of blood.

The white xenomorph escapes the room and chases after Amy Seimetz as she fires at it with a shotgun. It continues to grow as all of this happens. The creature leaps all over the place, clinging to walls, dodging every shot. Seimetz is firing blindly and eventually hits a series of tanks, which sets off a massive explosion, destroying the dropship entirely. Outside the exploding ship, we see Billy Crudup's team nearly there and witnessing the devastation. They's screwed. They stop in their tracks, still dealing with their own sick man, who almost on cue starts convulsing like the guy on the dropship.

His convulsions don't last long, as the camera closes in on his face when suddenly another one of the spiked, white xenomorph's BURST from his FACE, blood gushing everywhere. The xenomorph takes off running into the grass, while the team reels from what just happened. Fassbender's Walter simply looks on…very curiously.

We also got a quick character vignette for Katherine Waterston's Daniels, which was more of a mini-trailer than anything. We see her talking with Billy Crudup's character and it's revealed that The Covenant is carrying 200 colonists, looking to start a new life on a new world. Almost all of them are couples, mean to repopulate wherever they end up. Definitely got those Biblical ties in the Adam and Eve sense and I'm sure Scott will tie those themes into the overall film, much like he did with mythology in PROMETHEUS. "It's our responsibility to investigate."

We see a few quick scenes of Waterston geared up with a gun, looking ready for action, rather than running scared, again giving the impression that there's more to her than a simple space damsel in distress and more akin to Ripley than Noomi Rapace's Elizabeth Shaw.

"All of this to start our new life." Waterston is seen talking to the Fassbender android Walter. She is obviously discussing their journey to the planet and expressing her fears. Walter replies, "I think if we are kind it will be a kind world."

As someone who loves PROMETHEUS (but not without reservations, mind you) and someone who loves the ALIEN franchise in general (again, with reservations), ALIEN: COVENANT really feels like a righting-the-ship kind of film and refocusing on the things we love about the other films, while still injecting the mystery and intrigue from PROMETHEUS. Oh, and bringing back the o.g. xenomorph…and then some. I feel like Scott has a firm take on what he's doing here and has absolutely taken the criticism and cries for more aliens to heart with this. In addition to that, this thing is gonna be bloody as hell if that one scene is any indication. Based on the scenes I saw and this new trailer, I feel like ALIEN: COVENANT is going to be a more rousing, crowd-pleasing jaunt into the franchise and I mean that in the best possible way. There's simply no way I miss this in theaters and I think most of you will feel the same after reading and seeing this.

Keep an eye out for our set visit report when that embargo lifts sometime next year; even more exciting and cool shit to get you ready for the sequel, I assure you.

ALIEN: COVENANT chases you into theaters on May 19, 2017.