Ridley Scott confirms engineers will return in sequel to Covenant

I hope this post appears with a verifiable link!

I been here 4 times already!!!!!!

@sherris - HAHA!!  Me TOO!!

No article link - not confirmed.

A youtube video seems like a flimsy source.

Im sure i have seen that interview - but i dont recall hearing that part before!

That is so good to hear!! I really thought the Engineers were done and finished. FOX felt they werent interesting enough. So glad that is not the case.

Say what you want about RS and his comments and general mental health, he even got forgetful in that snippet! No matter, he seemed certain they would return and it has made my evening seeing that.

Im going over my theories in the morning and returning with hope!

I had just about lost the will to enjoy this franchise but hearing the Engineers will return and by the sounds of it, that may include the elders if they are checking up on planets, is great news!!

May of got a little excited there but i have something to calm me and get my mind working on the next Engineer theory that may arrive

Yeah, it has been posted here a few times. He really did not say anything else about the next movie. Just those bits.

"There will be three or four different players coming in to investigate, one of which will be the Engineers arriving back to find their planet decimated…Those ships (Juggernauts) come and go on regular intervals."

So the Engineers make a regular return and find someone wiped out their outpost. One of the other players coming to investigate will surely be a ship from Weyland-Yutani. David has probably communicated to the secret division he or Weyland set up for the Prometheus mission. He sends a secure message to WU in the Covenant book, and in the movie Mother recognizes David's security code, so nasty company business is coming.

Ridley also said in the recent Jonny Nelson interview that the story was going to be "War of the Worlds" and "that's where we're heading", so you can probably imagine what happens when the big guns arrive on this planet and go against the Engineers.

"I see them as the gardeners of space…where we go next is obvious. Were gonna actually go to the planet..."

I assume that means we will be going to the Engineer home world.

Not sure if this is serious (unless written & confirmed).

But i see it as the start of a new hope where the backstory of this species is further expanded, which Alien:Davenant obviously missed.

So the ships are gardeners of space which is another word for seeding platforms/vehicles, and the local lifeforms on planet 4 where regulary visited by this gardener ships?!

Whatever this means i was right in my thought this is not their actual mainworld and the Engineers are by far not extinct (maybe still billions around in far regions of our and other galaxies)

35 Seconds... "ive lost the Plot, what was the Question"

I think we need to look at this.... lol does he know what he is doing? Does FOX?    Maybe they could give us a Bell and i get the Plot back on Track for them ;)

But with RS he has a habit of contradicting himself over and over... he confirms its being Written... which means they have not 100% got a Draft ... they have a idea but it appears maybe they are taking on board Reaction to AC?

Because in a Earlier Interview RS confirmed he has plans to expand the Franchise, he thinks like Star Wars they can make many movies.. even bring it to a War of the Worlds.

He did however confirm there would be no Parallel Plots, Prequels (as in prior to AC) and that the Plot has to Follow forwards from AC to Alien which would need 1-2 movies, and he said it has to be about ONE thread of String and that Thread has to be about HIM (Xenomorph)  although RS had confirmed they can Evolve HIM (Xenomorph)

This did not Bold Well for our Engineers.... we then had hope that the Prequel Novel will bring in the Engineers and Dr Shaw and David and what happened between Prometheus and AC... but nope.. its a Prequel to the events that lead up to the Covenant Mission  why it was going where it was going and some kind of Espionage and and Conflicting interests. And a attempt to Sabotage the Mission way before it even had set off, well prior to the events of AC..

Question is this Prequel Set prior or post the Last Supper Prologue... we will find out September.

It's an excerpt. Most likely they were talking about something, perhaps a sort of vague question and Riddles went off a tangent. It's nothing. I'm just excited we'll get more of the Engineers. I didn't even know I could be this excited for Engineers.

But this interview does kind of open the Door for the Engineers but i would say take it with a pinch of salt... as far as RS and what he means... as this comment does seem to back track and confuse.

"There will be three or four different players coming into investigate. One of which will be the Engineers arriving to find that Planet Decimated. I think those ships come and go on regular intervals, i see them as the gardeners of space"

This is when he then loses the Plot a Bit.... (however the video looks edited.. so maybe it was cut to the next part).

"If you got a very expensive vehicle going through space and everyone's asleep you got to have a very good house keeper who will never go to sleep its a computer dude, and so i thought Hal was a genius notion and erm....  ive lost the Plot.. what was the Question".

Then he is asked about how many more movies there would be and how they would fit together.

"ok so were we go next is obvious, were actually going to go to the Planet in so doing... im not gonna tell you the story"

The First part seems to hint as i speculated a while back that Paradise is maybe kind of like Paradise of the Bible, as this place is not where God or Angels come from, but the Cradle of Humanoid Civilization and watched over by Cherubim Angels (Scorpion Ship)  and so maybe this place is where Sacrifices are taken from...  hence my many posts i point out the Hanger which has Statues like the Buddha Offering Statues.

This would explain why the ship was welcomed, those beings thought it was the return of their Hierarchy to take more Sacrifices and not a return of a War Ship... (i have a  theory to those Juggernaughts and its not a War Ship).

I proposed a few ideas how the next movie could carry on and tie in Engineers by having a Ship return to investigate and find out what happened.. then realizing this happened due to what had been done on LV-223 and so then Engineer end up going to this place to wipe it out and catch up with David who Logically would go there next..

It appears this could be what we shall see... but now it looks like David may not be going to LV-223 but its open for debate as RS mentions a Planet... this could be Origae-6 but we have to ask why... why would David go there?

The next part of the comment RS has changed topic to be about the MUTHUR System which i think RS will be showing this and AI plays a Key Role..

Thus the 3-4 Factions at play...

1) Engineers

2) Weyland-Yutani Company

3) The AI (think Skynet)

4.... this one is tricky could be someone else connected to the W-Y Merger who was not happy with this Merger and opposes its creation.

So if we do see Engineers in some way i welcome this... if they are stuck with a Plot... well i am not hard to find ;)

So looking into the Plot its quite simple to paint the Picture.

We have Weyland Company who specialize in a number of areas,  Space Travel and Terra-forming are a Main Part but so too is AI and its Synthetic Models which due to Patents have a Monopoly...

We have the Yutani company that also is a key playing in Technology, although they seem to be more geared towards Communications, and Software and also Androids in which they have a bitter Rivalry with Weyland Company especially in regards to the Patents that they tried and failed to sue Weyland over... giving Weyland a Patent of how Life-like the David Models are and a Monopoly.

But the Yutani Company is a big Communications Giant and Weyland Company Probes and maybe even Prometheus Ship uses  some of their Software/Hardware and so Yutani are able to use espionage tactics on what Weyland are up to.

So we have Peter Weyland and Meredith Vickers gone.. who runs the Company now?  something has to happen to Force a Merger...  Surely NO Owner of a Larger Weyland Company cant Force them to Sell up/ be dissolved into joining with Yutani.

So we can safely assume Prometheus Mission is Lost, but Yutani holds some Vital Information about it.

The companies to Merge.. we dont know how or why... but it happens about 5 years after Prometheus and 5 years prior to Alien Covenant.

The Covenant Mission was planned for 10 years... before the Merger had began....   The Covenant mission was then off to Origae-6 to set up a New Colony on a World that was suitable for Terra-forming and the Largest Scale Terra-forming Mission ever attempted.

Prior to Alien Covenant in the year 2104 (December) there was a lot of Espionage and attempted Sabotage of this mission by Technology Advanced Group (Cant be Engineers) and so some Party was not happy with the Mission and where it was going.... i think this forms a back story around the Merger and how Both Parties may not be acting on the same page.. or someone was against such a Merger....   I wonder if the AI is the one who was against this?

So we then get to Alien Covenant... the Ship Prepares to Re-Charge which it has to do every 1.5-2 years... thus the Covenant Mission left for Origae-6 in the year 2102

Before a Accident happens and the Ship suffers Damage, and the loss of its Captain and another 46 Members of the Crew.  And then we get to Alien Covenant.

They were talking about Kubrick's 2001 and the future of his Alien series, which got jumbled. The person who edited this video just put together the relevant stuff about the next movie.

This was from the press junket interviews done the week the film premiered. Ridley said several times that week that the next one was already being written. They did not know how the public would react to the movie however, so keep that in mind. They can always change direction, but I hope not. I want to see 'War of the Worlds' :)

While on Paradise... David arrives upto 10 years prior (looking at Dr Shaws hair) she must have spent 6-12 Months before she put David together and so maybe she remained on LV-223 for that time....  and we dont know how long the Juggernaught would take to reach Paradise but considering the Covenant was at least likely to had been 18-24 months into its journey before the signal that then took them 7 weeks to Paradise... its Logical to assume it would take David much much less than year to arrive.

These beings on Paradise are watched over by a Engineer Docking Ship, and it appears they await the arrival of those beings above them (Elders or Engineers) who Periodically arrive to collect Sacrifices for their Seeding of Worlds.

Between the last visit and the next, they discover a ruined Paradise, and then we have to wonder what information they can attain from this Disaster as to what happened.

Would they want Revenge? how can they find out who did it and where they come from and where they are going.

This is a Plot Hole, that would have to be explained... if these beings realize the Black Goo dropped etc comes from LV-223 or even if they are aware those ships came from LV-223... they could easily get to Davids Juggernaught and work out the Flight Path it had taken and work out it came from LV-223

Which is where i thought they would be taking this, if they chose to bring in the Engineers.... but then if RS is hinting that David will be going to Origae-6... which makes little sense as far as his Agenda to  Create a Xenomorph Army or indeed just allow his Creation to Increase in size. and also to destroy Mankind.. then LV-223 is the better option.

We have to ponder what was important about Origae-6 that warrants David to go there instead, and what is important so that someone tries to Sabotage this Mission way prior before it even arrives near Paradise.

I think its a bit Lazy if by Coincidence Origae-6 is a Engineer World... but we cant rule this out.

The other option then is how do these Engineers who return to Paradise know how to track and find the Covenant Ship?

It would take 7 years to get to Origae-6 we have to assume it would take the Engineers Far Less time to Intercept... and so its safe to ASSUME the Engineers arrive at Paradise to discover the destruction a good 5-7 years after the Covenant Ship has left and thus 14-16 years after David Bombarded the Place.

So how would the Engineers know about Covenant?

The Most Easy... Method as far as Lazy Plot telling well Easy Plot Story would be to discover Walter, and some how Walter can inform them he came from Earth, David another Robot had been to LV-223 and used one of the Engineers Ships from there to Bomb Paradise and Experiment with the Black Goo and Create all those Horrors..

Then inform the Engineers where the Covenant Ship is heading.

So i think guys these last TWO Post kind of paint Half the Picture we will see that will lead us to 1-2 movies.

So it gives us HOPE!  and seems my interpretation and ideas are quite close..  not meaning to Blow my Own Flute... i mean i have had a bit of help with the Fingering from Clues in AC ;)

Well Kethol Fan Reaction helped to change Prometheus 2

And i think its interesting as the other interviews i read, he seemed to be going the route of following the AI, Alien Xenomorph and then even pondering bringing Ripley back into it....

I think the Engineers have to come into play, and having them discover Mankind who was abandoned had found LV-223 and the Hubris that leads to the Engineers creations, creating a AI that has now posses a serious threat... means they would surely have to Eradicate LV-223 and also Mankind.

So it could get back on track to something interesting... it depends how the Fan-Boys Moan about the  Lack of Aliens feel and having it about a Confused and Camp Robot rather than Queen Popping out Xenomorph Eggs.

Maybe this interview was done in May, I found another one where he was talking about Alien Covenant 2 without clues included.

It was done during the big post premier press junket in early May.

If anyone wonders why Ridley seems to ramble on in some of these interviews, it's because they sit and do interviews for hours and hours all day. Each interviewer is allotted a set amount of time, then they roll in the next, so he is probably fried by the end of the day and has answered the same questions dozens of time over.

Ooh, goody! More Ridley-Rambles, "interesting". 

"... I lost the plot...", what was the topic again? XD

@Kethol: It's rather frustrating how so many posters refer to interviews, particularly where Ridley Scott provides key hints (e.g. War of the Worlds), but no links to the original ones are included in the posted comments.  Is there any way the moderator can encourage commenters to do this?  Otherwise it risks becoming hearsay/ fan interpretation!  I'd love to listen to the full interview for the above junket (among others).

I expect the Engineers to start a sterilisation/decontamination protocol after arriving on planet 4.

How long this would take and what it involves we will see.

Maybe they even skip this process and just abandon the planet because it's not worth logistically-wise/material wise.

Damn Sir Ridley has so much energy, doesn't look like a 79 year old man at all. I want to know his secret.

@BigDave. That is a great storyline you conjured up.

And because it is good, I'm sure they won't go that route.

Right now, RS seems like he is confused about what direction he wants to take this series (If we get any more movies). At this point, I would not be shocked with anything that may happen...Engineers/No engineers/different alien race(s)/ Weyland-Yutani robot hunters/Industrial espionage-sabotage/David impregnation/Elizabeth Shaw clone/young Ellen Ripley/etc, etc (ad nauseaum) ...Nothing would surprise me.

It is quite possible that after the reception of AC, RS is having his staff scour fan-boards just like ours looking for viable plotlines to where to take this franchise next. TO me, if you have good ideas, post them on here now....maybe it will make it into the next movie(s)...or maybe not.

Awesome.

Like to see those massive mother ships of the Engineers come in to play! Not just the tiny Juggernauts!

I just front-paged this. Thanks so much for the find!! Up-voting this as well. Well done!

@Neomorpheus - Thank-you & all contributors so much for giving me hope for the future installments!!  Let's make sure Sir Ridley makes these next movies a priority & gets going right away!

@Nathan - The video where Ridley made the War of the Worlds comment has been posted here several time already. Here is is again -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo30bZc10D0&t=47s

He says coming in to investigate so that rules out Daniels, David, Tennessee and xenomorphs...as they are already at the location to investigate.

these 4 groups are coming in to investigate which could be one heck of a collision or meet up in space.

i feel that there will obviously be the following:

* The Engineers (the ones from Prometheus) because he clearly stated as much

*More than likely Weyland-Yutani who somehow piece together what David has or is doing...although this would make the next movie take place at least 2-3 yrs after the Covenant as the time to travel to that sector of space was established in Prometheus

* I feel one of the other coming to investigate could be Walter, i have high hopes that he will be included in the next installment, i really liked his character and the elements having him come to the rescue could create in another film

* I hope that the next film's 4th group or faction coming to investigate is some type of high being, one that is above the engineers and very powerful, and horrific, somehow perhaps adding back some of that ancient Lovecraftian cosmic terror feel we had from the 1st installment

____________________________

I do not think one of the factions will be among the following:

-it wont be some random ship full of humans because at this point in the Alien film timeline there just arent that many ships cruising around Zeta 2 Reticuli

* Colonial Marines, for one that is a construct of Cameron and Ridley has avoided using most if not all Cameron's tweaks to this film universe. Ok let's say he does include them but the Colonial Marines had never heard of this type of creature in Aliens. Of course it could have been a Black Ops mission so only the ones that went knew about so it remained a secret. But the main reason they wont be one of the (4) factions is this, and its a bigee, the Colonial Marines they didn't really exist at this point in time because this is several (7-9) decades before colonization really had starting occurring throughout the universe, thus no actual Colonial Marines. I feel that the Weyland Yutani group of the (4) investigators may have a military faction with them but they will not be separate.

-__________

So :

The Engineers

The Ancient Cosmic Higher Power

Weyland Yutani

Walter

i think that would be awesome and explosive if the 4 groups were those.

Ridley Scott should take note that we want a god-being in the next one so powerful it could solo the Halo and Star Wars universes combined. Seriously, pull some seriously insane, Lovecraftian, Giger shit out of your a...-I mean memory banks-for this one.

I think the Key thing to remember is the Gardeners of Space

And as i have mentioned a number of times and on some recent Posts... latest one the Holloway one regarding the Engineers created us because THEY COULD...

Prometheus set up the Huge Plot and was confirmed by RS and Lindeloff, that these beings had not just created Life on Earth in this manner.

We have to then accept it is a bit Pointless to go around seeding Worlds just because they could...

Its likely they Seed Worlds and Genetically experiment on them in a attempt to create a Hybrid to their liking or needs... or that indeed creating Humanoids is a requirement they need for their greater Agenda... or that of their Hierarchy.

This is where the Plot can vary a lot depending on who is at the Top of this Chain.

I have always for many years viewed Earth as a Garden, or a Patch of Land, or even a Large Plant Plot....  and LV-223 would be like a Nursery/Green house where these Engineers conduct experiments and evolve/hybrid the Genetic Fruit of their Labor... where they Test them and when happy with the results they Plant them in the Garden

If you have a Garden or Plots of Land and are growing different Crop, Veg or Fruit and you wish to experiment on improving them and creating Hybrids you would do so in a separate Nursery/Greenhouse and then Plant the new Creations/Evolved ones back to the Patches of Land once you know the results are Good and will not cause any problems to the other Fruit/Veg/Crop

This is what LV-223 was.

I would expect that Paradise was a Place where these Genetic Crop/Fruit had Originated from... Paradise being the Place where Humanoids was first Evolved upon and then these Humanoids are then take and Seeded on other Worlds.

Now with a Fruit if you wish to grow these you would have to take a few Fruit and take the Seeds from them... doing so would mean having to Destroy/Damage the Fruit... the Fruits Purpose is to become Dissolved (Eaten) and then its Seed passed to the Earth to Grow.

If we now look at the Fruit and replace with Humanoids, then in order to Seed Humanoids.. the Engineers must dissolve the Humanoids to allow for the Seed... this is the Sacrificial Scene

And so this is done on MANY Worlds.... and we have to ask WHY

I think this WHY Seed worlds is the BIG Question... its one that Made Prometheus what it was, and its one that upset many non-Prometheus fans especially the whole connection to Ancient Mythos and Religions...

But then its EXPLORING the WHY and WHO is at the Top of this Chain and what PURPOSE it all has thats interesting... because they could reveal the Very Purpose as something very very Horrific

Where the Top of the Chain... would view Mankind, even Engineers as no more than We would view a Bunch of Grapes or Bowl of Oranges and Apples.

so those at the Top of the Chain... would see Paradise has become Corrupted as far as Environment and Fruit it was to bare...  If you owned your own Land where you grew many Fruit/Veg/Crop and some of your Crop/Fruit/Veg had become infected and contaminated you would be very concerned and have to take measures to find out what is the Cause.. find it and eradicate it.

I think this is what we will see happen in the Franchise.

As far as how they can head back to something that would please Alien Fans Especially.... is again the whole Purpose for Creation of Humanoid Life....

So i think trying to bring in HR Gigers Mural would be KEY.. but i think this is what they should have done.. but they did not and now AC has set a path, that this no longer fits.

HR Giger Influenced more Potentially than we realize and his Vision is what should have been followed.  And in part is what i was going to cover in my Prometheus 2... well it would be set down a foundation that a Prometheus 3 would have covered.

If you look at HR Gigers 2nd Mural (first one had more Earth like Helmets) we notice a number of things.

*The U-Shaped Xenomorph type object, represents the Derelict and shows it Genetically is connected to the Xenomorph. The ship is thus a Living Bio-Mechanical Organism.

*This Ship Produces the Eggs, which Evolve from like a Tiny Worm.  HR Gigers Murals were intended to go above the Egg Silo compartments as i have shown in Green Arrows..  HR Giger had envisioned that the Silo has Pregnant like Bellies that would give birth to the Eggs. As shown in the image posted.

*The Mural had these Humanoids in Space Suits, Sacrificing themselves to Procreate the Organism.  Note these beings Suits are the same as those in the other TWO Face Huger Designs and notice these beings are Bald Humanoids, their Suits similar to the Engineers on LV-223.  

*The beings in the Mural have Helmets and the back of their Suits all look very much similar to the Prometheus Space Jockey Suits.

so much seemed to be influenced in Prometheus... the Mural in Prometheus even has those TWO Face Hugger Concepts in it, a Easter Egg maybe... but it could have meant more.

I think there is still a way to go and explore the HR Giger ideas and have this as the Horrific Agenda.... because if we look at HR Gigers Mural and concepts.

Then ask....

Why do these beings Sacrifice themselves for the Procreation of this Organism.

What is the Hierarchy of the Egg Producing Ship/Beings, did they create the Ships to Self Sacrifice themselves?

Did some other Race Create those Ships that Produce Eggs, and then created or enslaved those beings to be part of the Sacrificial Rituals.

I think Ultimately something along these lines could be still explored as a purpose for WHY the Engineers/Elders was created and where they Ultimately Stole/Re-weaponized their Juggernauts from.

But we can only hope...

@BigDave. Good stuff. I just hope RS doesn't 'eradicate" too quickly in the next movie.

Your details on LV223 were in line with what I was thinking. You also made me realize that even though AC shut the door on many of the creation tenets brought along in Prometheus, there is still a lot to explore. If RS is willing to bring the Engineers back and get of their story told in context with the Alien franchise as well as tempering his "I-Robot" fetish, I think we can have a hell of a movie for the next iteration.

There are many other gaps that RS can touch on as well;people forget that we have seen two different types of ships...The large sauce shaped craft from Prometheus and the Juggernaut bio-mechanical looking crafts. There is so much to explore here!

Also the question why did someone send a signal for humans to come to LV223?

So many questions...I truly hope the answers aren't all crammed into one movie...