Ridley Scott talks Alien: Covenant; is Noomi Rapace back?

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Even though I had a lovely Thanksgiving on Thursday, I think I might have preferred being in Australia, attending Ridley Scott’s ALIEN: COVENANT press conference. The legendary director is in Oz to formally begin pre-production on the anticipated prequel/sequel, which begins shooting about four months from now, and Scott used the occasion to talk about the film’s concept and shooting schedule.

Said Scott:

Prometheus 1 was borne out of my frustration that on Alien 1 in 1979 – I only did one as I don’t normally do sequels. I was amazed that in the 3 that followed  that no-one asked the question “why the Alien, who made it and why?” Very basic questions. So I came up with the notion of Prometheus 1, which starts to indicate who might have made it and where it came from.

So I’m now going to the next one, which is the next evolution directly connected with the first one, which was this Shaw, when she replaced Michael Fassbender in two pieces and we’ll kind of pick it up there and it will evolve. When that’s finished there’ll be another one and then another one which will gradually drive into the back entrance of the film in 1979. So in other words, why was this space jockey there and why did he have an Alien inside him? And those questions will be answered.”

Scott also shed some light on a nagging issue. When the first official synopsis for ALIEN: COVENANT was revealed, it tellingly left out the name of PROMETHEUS protagonist Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), instead solely name-dropping Michael Fassbender’s David. Is Rapace a non-factor? Scott reportedly said Noomi Rapace will only appear “briefly” in Covenant. Dare we speculate that she bites the dust in the opening reel?

Fassbender is scheduled to arrive in Australia mid-March for the 16 week shoot. Shooting will be a mix of location and studio shoots; Scott says the exteriors will involve “monumental forest and monumental rock and the rest will be in the studio with fairly formidable CGI.” The following ALIEN/PROMETHEUS films will also shoot in Australia.

Casting news should be just around the corner!