BREAKING: Noomi Rapace has officially joined Alien: Covenant! Shaw WILL return!

I'm excited about her being in it. After all, it was her story and so it be right to continue her journey and know the outcome, even if it is for just this film.

I am EXTREMELY excited about this!! I liked Rapace's performance (Shaw wasn't the most amazing character, but I think more development in Covenant will help) and as David007 said above me, her story was one of the main focuses of Prometheus. Man this is great

Yes! Very cool. Think I'll go watch Prometheus!

Happy happy day!!!

Super excited! I was very disappointed to hear she would not be in it. I'll definitely be watching this in theaters now.

this is just great....my night just got better

My original theory was that the role of Shaw was intende d to be small with David being the main tie-in between movies. And the producers wanted to focus on the new crew, to create distance from Prometheus. So I was thinking that Rapace probably turned-down the small role. And then they had to write her out of it all together.   

She will probably be in the first and 2nd acts as she probably will sacrifice herself in order to slow down David...

Damn it she's not an egg.

Yet.

@Aorta lol ;D

Lol Aorta, "yet".... this adds so much to the speculative assumptions we can make about this film's turn out. I'm so glad she's being included. I had a feeling she might be keeping her involvement a secret, but I wasn't 100% sure. It's so nice to get confirmation.

Yeah I had a secret feeling too! This is super exciting and I'm even more amped for this story. Rock on Elizabeth Shaw!

Edit: I was there for my daughters Caesariean delivery. Having watched Noomi's ordeal, l can't help but be connected (Although my daughter is a lot more approachable than Mr. T.). I had a feeling this would happen, but it's just such great news. 

Show will become SIL.

She the one sending the 
DNA message back to 
Earth to 1988-1992 etc.

Back to the past!!

When Ridley indicated she had a small role, when he made the two roles for David announcement in Australia, and then later indicated she would not come down to Sydney I assumed she would film her parts in Europe (probably Pinewood) so I am really pleased that she is inside the main shooting arrangements. It was a four month shoot so to bring her down toward the end suggests whatever was written in the autumn of last year has survived and she is needed for the narrative.

Anyone who knows how filming translates to screen knows that this late entrance to the schedule still represents the time needed for her small role.

If the "setting up " of the Covenant is beginning of first act in my vision of the film she may well be in the prologue as part of Davids big idea and then in a twist much later when we see where it all ends for her or …. possibly continues. She will certainly be built into the philosophical/spiritual elements of where we are going. 

 

She is back for Shaw's Giger-transformation by the hand of David!

@Lone...  wow.. that would be crazy  O-O

YES! JUST YES!

I love her character. I hope, that she and David will be fight against Covenant crew (corporate mercenaries). And Show or David will use extreme & dangerous bioweapon - xenomorph.

Maybe, Show go back on Earth on Juggernaut with new alien species (ALIEN 5 PLOT). And David will be biomechanical god (millions films in perspective).

don't be SIL-ly!!

LOL !

@Lone I have always thought she is more than Eggs: Alien and has a transformative experience. What I am fascinated to see is how willing she is and whether she too moves through Protagonist, Antagonist and Redemption.

My curiosity levels are rising !   

I stand by what I said several months ago... Rapace has always been coy about her involvement in 'Alien: Covenant' and I think those behind the production didn't want to announce it officially.  Maybe they've seen enough people comment negatively, assuming she wasn't involved, that they decided to let it be known that she is, in fact, involved.

Starts at 0:43 in this brief interview. After being asked if she had a chance to talk to Ridley Scott about 'Alien: Covenant' and if she was excited to continue the story, she answers, "Well, I have no comments on that yet" while laughing.

Indeed she was Coy in that Interview as if she knew what they had install for Shaw's Character regardless of if she would be playing the role or not, Rappace new something about the Character.

At first Ridley said she would only have a small role, then she was not in the Synopsis then we was told she would not be joining up with the rest for shooting in Australia and New Zealand (which does not mean she is not shooting elsewhere or all ready has done)

Then she was said to not be in the movie...

Now this....

I think we have to pay attention to the Synopsis and that she would only be playing a Small Role.

That is very bad, I very much dislike the Shaw character.  She has got to be a lot smarter this time (not the "that is what I choose to believe" and "I think that they want us to find them").

 

If there is something that I can't stand it is irrationality and these two examples are what I would call irrational statements. Who came up with this? Being a scientist she should know better that is one of the reasons why I even get more in a bad mood than if she would have been a random person that holds irrational opinions.

 

What I would prefer is if she would be made smarter this time, she would have learned something from Prometheus, no? If she hasn't learned to be more rational and questioning then this movie (I am afraid) will be a waste especially if she will be given much screen time.

I am glad to say the least.
I wonder of she hi jacked a 
Jugg and went to SJ
Headquarters?

@Membrane. I think the way they have dealt with this works well. The first point to get across was that A L I E N Covenant is not Elizabeth Shaw's story. By focusing for months on the Covenant Crew and the cryptic remark about the "synthetic" David we got to accept where the body of the story lies. Now for those , like myself, who want the story to flow naturally from one movement to another we have the re assurance that her part in the story is included whilst having already accepted her role is minor. Great positioning.

There is another element to this threading which is unique. Unlike the Ripley movies we have two separate  experiences moving into A. C.(Bishop was merely exposition). The anti hero David with his unbridled unburdened curiosity and the heroine whose faith driven curiosity has been transformed from wide eyed naivety to a grim single minded determination for answers putting her much closer to a boundary less David.

We have discussed W Y draw to Paradise as opposed to LV223 I think it much more likely that David is the messenger spinning his find rather than further messages from Shaw.     

   

@Michelle Yes, I too am curious with regards to how Shaw will react to her inevitable destiny!

She may even prove receptive or resigned to her horrific becoming?

I am so pleased to hear this. I think it would have been weird and bad for continuity if she wasn't in the film at all. I'm still concerned that changing the name to Alien: Covenant instead of Prometheus: Paradise or something like that will confuse people. I've already seen it confuse people. They won't know it's a continuation of Prometheus. But the Alien name is very well known, so maybe it will actually be better for business. I hope.

Patient Leech: I think that the name change to Alien Covenant is better because then it is clear that it is connected to Alien. One of the problems with Prometheus was that it wasn't connected to Alien enough so this is a step forward I think. You mention that it might be confusing and that it might not be obvious that it will be connected to Prometheus but if they do it well enough it might be understood that it is connected to both Alien and Prometheus. Hopefully they will find a way to connect those two.

Patient Leech and Thoughts_Dreams, I suppose they could easily tie them together via trailers and TV spots in some way.  I think the percentage of people who go to a movie based solely on just reading or seeing the title is fairly small.  Most would find out about 'Alien: Covenant' via a trailer or TV spot and I think the tie-in could easily be made briefly there.  That would be to try to capture as large of an audience as possible.  Of course, there would be tie-ins within the movie itself as well.

Membrane: If they do something for people to see that they are connected then it might be a good thing. This could probably be done in some way. Honestly it took me a while to see how Prometheus and Alien were connected.

Like Thoughts_Dreams I wasn't too fond of the Shaw character either, so this news isn't very exciting for me.

Lets hope that her character will be better written this time. The "this is what I choose to believe" and "No weapons for protection purposes on a scientific mission" mentality has to go because it made her character very unconvincing as a scientist.

Scientific thinking is basically having a hypothesis which then is put to the test. The tests either confirm your hypothesis, or prove it to be wrong, which then will give you new insights in the matter. Her Choosing to believe something, and cling to these beliefs made her utterly unconvincing to me. 

 

^ There's plenty of religious scientists out there. It's not that unrealistic. Contradictory perhaps, yes, but not unlike real life. 

Shame. I was looking forward to maybe seeing her decayed corpse in one of the cryo pods.

Maybe she'll give birth to a Jellyfish in this one?

I wasn't being flippant with that last comment btw. Prometheus seemed to have that "evil from the oceans" vibe.

The engineer drinks the black stuff and his body crumbles into the sea. Then, Shaw gives birth to a squid, which later turns into a kraken.

Even the deacons dislocating jaw was modelled on a goblin shark.

There's a definite theme going on there.

Yeah, it's like James Cameron's dark side. He's obsessed with all the underwater life... and some of the creatures in Avatar reflected that influence. But Prometheus is the darker, creepier deep sea life influence.

Am I the only one who wants to see xenomorphs rip aparts dozens of those annoying blue cat people from Avatar?

No, you're definitely not the only one Leech! (Good to see you back btw!) But lets not go giving FOX any idea's hey? lol

You know what I really want from Covenant? Originality!

Thanks, it's good to be back. The place is much improved. I had trouble logging in for a while, but Chris hooked me up.

I wouldn't expect much originality from Covenant. Like Ridley has said again and again, the beast is done. The xenomorph has been played out. But as long as there are some great new creatures, landscapes and good characters I think we'll be in for quite a treat. I actually wish they'd cut down the number of characters a bit. I think Prometheus did have too many lesser characters, but the themes and imagery are spectacular.

@Patient Leech,

True, there are many scientists that belief in a higher power of some sort. And most of them have some very personal views and thoughts on how the universe works. Most of the time these views don't fit any standard set of religious views, but it is rather evolved into something of it's own, which makes these people more spiritual than religious, which are 2 different things.

I don't have an issue with Elizabeth Shaw being a spiritual person, and if done right, her character could have been a very interesting element of the movie. 

Unfortunately her character was written in a bad way, and on screen she comes across as a naïve person with childlike curiosity, rather than a true leading scientist in her field. (Which should probably have been something close to Anthropology)

I do have an issue with the lack of logic in most of her decisions.

- Why not having armed security personnel with you on this mission ? It's an alien planet of which humanity knows nothing. I would think security precautions would be a big point during a mission like this.

- Why running tests on the engineer skull without (again) any form of proper protection

- Why does she interpret the ancient icons as an invitation ? I'd like to see some sort of character motivation that explains that. 

To me Shaw felt very incapable. Her survival is purely due to dumb luck instead of her being a strong and resourceful character like Ripley was. 

If the film was a novel they may have had time to go into greater detail about why they interpreted the murals as invitations. But I think given all the speculation about "Ancient Aliens" there is enough room to take it and run with it for the film.

[I]- Why running tests on the engineer skull without (again) any form of proper protection[/I]

Their assumption is that they were invited and the air was breathable. There didn't appear to be any immediate threat. Inadvisable perhaps, but they were operating on some form of "faith." I'm not saying I agree with the decision, but it makes some sense given the situation.

[I]- Why not having armed security personnel with you on this mission ? It's an alien planet of which humanity knows nothing. I would think security precautions would be a big point during a mission like this.[/I]

That would probably send the wrong impression to the beings whom they assume "invited" them.

[I]To me Shaw felt very incapable. Her survival is purely due to dumb luck instead of her being a strong and resourceful character like Ripley was. [/I]

I think using the Med Pod to remove her unwanted alien foetus was pretty strong and resourceful. Same with running from the Engineer after seeing what happened to everyone who confronted him.. lol. Also sicking her octopus facehugger on the Engineer was pretty resourceful (probably my favorite part of the movie).