New ‘Prologue’ Trailer, Photos, and Alien Day Q&A for Katherine Waterston’s ‘Alien: Covenant’

Twentieth Century Fox continues to roll out promotions for its latest installment in the Alien franchise, Alien: Covenant. Katherine Waterston joined co-stars at Fox Studies Los Angeles to take part in a live Q&A in honor of Alien Day, yesterday. The studio also released a new trailer titled “Prologue: The Crossing” and new still shots from the film this week.

Alien Day is observed on April 26th, so designated after the moon LV-426, which was inhabited by Xenomorphs in the 1979 original, also directed by Ridley Scott. In the Q&A session, Waterston, who takes the lead as Daniels in the upcoming film, discussed what it was like to work with the renowned director. According to IBTimes, she said:

“He’s just so awesome to be around and he has the gift of eternal youth; he’s got so much energy. It’s kind of disturbing, it makes me wonder whether he’s actually a robot.

“I think, also, a lot of people, when they get to that level, other people put them on a pedestal and they put themselves there and it can be kind of intimidating to work with them but he’s kept that spirit of a young film-maker. He’s scrappy.”

Fox also took the opportunity to release the “Prologue” trailer at the special event. The trailer sets the stage for Alien: Covenant, explaining the fate of the android, David (Michael Fassbender), and Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) following the first Alien prequel, Prometheus (2012).

David provides the voice-over narration, which concludes with the ominous line, “Look on my works ye mighty and despair.” IBTimes notes the classic line is derived from Percy Shelley’s sonnet “Ozymandias.” He seems intent on putting the Engineers of their origin in their place. View the trailer below and see what you think about the interlude.

Whatever David’s broader intentions, his actions set a chain of events in motion that will play out over the course of Scott’s terrifying thriller, leaving the crew of the colony ship Covenant at the mercy of the horrific alien species. New still photos from Bloody Disgusting show Daniels’ unmitigated terror.

Check out the site for more images, including shots of the dropship and the planet’s surface landscape, which appears dreary and barren. After all that practice working on such difficult locations and set pieces, Waterston was perfectly adept at navigating dodgy questions in a recent SFX interview.

In particular, Waterston was asked to respond to the rumors circulating that her character might be related to the iconic Ripley. Some fans suggest she might even be Ripley’s mother!

Digital Spy reports that Scott was asked the same question at the SFSX Film Festival and denied the possibility outright. Waterston’s response was less firm, opting to give an unrelated reference to a classic British sitcom in reply. She said:

“There’s this episode of Fawlty Towers where John Cleese tells Manuel he has to lie about something. ‘Whenever anyone asks you, you say, “I know nothing”.’ So that’s what plays on my mind whenever people ask me these spoiler questions.”

We’re not sure if she’s suggesting there is a connection but that she has to “lie” about it because of her obligations to the studio, or if she’s simply saying that she can’t confirm or deny anything that would constitute a spoiler and that the misdirection gets wearisome, since she must insist she knows nothing when, clearly, she does.

Digital Spy holds out hope that Waterston is equivocating, but not denying. In spite of Scott’s previous response, the article argues:

“The timelines would just about fit given that Alien: Covenant is set in 2014, ten years around Prometheus, and the original Alien takes place in 2122, so there could well be some reference to ‘Daniels’ daughter’.

Since Ridley Scott has promised the film will provide more information as to the origin of the aliens, we just hope there are more answers than questions when the credits roll. Head to UK theaters on May 12th and US theaters May 19th to find out!