Ridley Scott confirms engineers will return in sequel to Covenant

That could be interesting if they connect it closer to the Xeno/Xeno-like life-forms and the Space jockey otherwise I won’t care. Hopefully they will manage to put them into the movie in some smart way. I don’t want them portrayed as they were in Prometheus because that was kind of bad.

I still hope that the SJ is like a cousin to the Engineers and not an Engineer itself and defiantly not David but I prepare for the worst. We have already seen bad decisions about the Alien franchise so I am prepared for another.

My hope is that they will make the Covenant sequel a lot better than Prometheus but my guess is that it won’t be that as mediocre as P which is a good thing. AC was an improvement let’s see if they can develop it into an even better movie.

Big Dave mentions the Weyland and Yutani companies. I am not sure if I am very interested in that part of the story. This could turn out to be a very boring movie if they would explore that aspect but they could make it right but they need to focus on the characters, and logic and not make it extremely confusing/illogical/vague but if they do they need to tie it to the Xeno and Xeno-like monsters in a clever way.

The fan reactions to Prometheus probably changed the movie that would become Covenant into the better. With Shaw being the character that she is, following her and David on the Engineer planet would maybe be boring so I am glad that they did the way they did.

I agree with Nathan about references. “I think that I have read something somewhere” isn’t that convincing.

Suwhited:

“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.” 

I don’t mean to sound rude but I think that they have better things to do than to read message boards.

Interesting points Thoughts_Dreams

The power of the people is what changed RS plans however... they had indeed saw the Reaction of Prometheus and saw the growing interest and Hype for Alien 5.

Prometheus did not show us how the Xenomorph came to be not in a Spoon Fed Way.. not a clearer set of Clues either. It also lacked any Eggs and Xenomorphs... Not compared to Spaights Draft

Prometheus 2 was set to explore the Engineers Culture and Agenda the why they created Mankind, the why maybe LV-223 was set up.... no doubt it would have explored the Black Goo and effects and Engineers and Agenda.... but it was to steer away from the Classic Xenomorph and not Directly give us the Alien Eggs and Xenomorph from Alien or even show us how they got on the Derelict.

Blomkamps Alien 5... gave us Aliens, Eggs, a Queen and Ripley etc etc.

I think and RS confirmed it... in Hindsight they felt they had to have gave more clues to the Eggs in Alien, and had to introduce Aliens more into it... the only Alien things in Prometheus was  Toned Down Fifield Zombie who kills most people off.... Hammerpede Worms that just suffocated/killed Milburn and then the Trilobite which just leads to a Xeno-linked Deacon but never explored it.

My Prometheus re-write which i had part done addressed a lot of this.. Fifield was a more Xeno-Hybrid.. did not kill as many people, died on top of someone and Acid Blood Melted them.  The Hammerpedes lead to a Chest Buster that was killed and revealed the Hammerpedes had tiny Xeno Eggs in them.

So i think RS and FOX felt they had to bring the Alien back into it.... now a Source i had over 2 years ago had said the movie did plan to have TWO kinds of Monsters related to the Xenomorph but different... One a event created by David, the other not.. but it was not a Alien movie it would have few related Monsters. That set up a Sequel that would reveal more of a Alieny Movie... From the clues they gave it seems that David Re-creates something that is similar but different to the Xenomorph that based on the Ultramorph/Necronom 4 and likely a Money Shot end of Movie event.... but that there would be another Monster that was not created by David 8 directly that was supposed to be based of another Giger Alien Design and that was Translucent.

But AC seems to be a bit different, but from reports from people working on the movie.. it appears the Neomorph and Protomorph where indeed originally going to be a bit different and the Protomorph was to had been more like the Necronom 4

@Thought_dreams. To the contrary.

Fan reaction was exactly the reason RS changed the direction of Prometheus: Paradise to the storyline in Alien: Covenant. he said it himself "that he had seen the reactions and comments from fans regarding Prometheus..."

@Thoughts_Dreams

Indeed the W-Y company is a interesting part but one that covering a movie towards would not interest a lot of Fans who overall want ALIEN Eggs and Xenomorphs and so FOX cant risk and especially how Prometheus was received for trying to do something different and cover other things than those EGGS

This i feel is why FOX have commissioned ADF to do a Prequel to AC which will explore the Corporate Side of the Story and how it links.. this will be out in September.. called Alien Covenant : Origins which is a misleading Title... but so was so much of the Marketing.

This Book is not connected to Alien at all as far as Xenomorph or Engineers from what i can gather... it is just a Prequel to the Covenant Mission....  but then i guess they can hardly make the Book   Covenant: Origins or Covenant: Inception even if if they add under it...  Prequel Novel to Alien Covenant..   so they have gone for Alien Covenant: Origins.. which is misleading.

Likewise i feel FOX could commission a Book about the Engineers rather than Risk $$$$$$ on a Movie about them in-case it does not break even... which they would be more concerned with now due to how AC was received and did at BOX Office.

But i think a Novel about the Engineers could work, and i think also covering eventually what happened from Prometheus to the Alien Covenant would work... i think it would be Great for ADF to release a Novel down the line called   Alien Covenant: The Crossing.

I may even be attempted to cover this in a Fan Fiction..  but i think for those who would have liked to had seen this stuff covered on screen, they wont get it because FOX really cant risk Millions and Millions of $$$$ on such a Movie unless they feel it will not Harm/Put of Aliens Fans from the Franchise and also if they can Guarantee it would make a 150% Return on its Budget. which they really cant... and trying to cover such a Movie on a Budget less than 50M and a movie that revolved around only David and Shaw really would not be done justice on a low budget and would also be a Huge Risk on a larger than say 40-50M+ as far as it making back $100-120M Minimum and i feel FOX are not in the Market to make Movies to please Fans and break Even...  but to actually make a 200% Profit.

@suwhited

Indeed, we just dont know how far RS will go with the Engineers, i am not sure we will see a Full HR Giger version of them... we need to remember Prometheus => Alien Covenant has explored the Black Goo as connected to the Xenomorph but so far all effects have not given us that HR Giger Bio-Mechanical Atheistic  and so its likely the Black-Goo Origin is something more Parasitic and Organic.

The Questions are how they will connect to Alien as far as how the Xenomorph becomes more Bio-Mechanical and how the Derelict does too... as far as how the Xenomorph becomes more Mechanical and the Juggernauts become more Organic.

I think anyone expecting a very HR Giger World and the Space Jockey being more Alien than the Engineers never mind not being a Space Suit will be let down.

And as i had mentioned... its likely the Xenomorph Strain Origins is more Organic... and the Engineers Bio-Mechanical Atheistic is not much different than we have seen in Prometheus.

Thus a more likely way of seeing a Giger World and Atheistic is by having some event where the Xeno-Strain Black Goo and Bio-Mechanical Engineer Technology is fused together from some kind of Accident.

There is hope for a True Origins where the Ships Originally are more Organic and Life-like... but i am not sure we will explore this at all.

Big Dave:

I don’t think that a sort of follow-up that is closer to Prometheus got to be crap, should they have kept some of the things in Prometheus then it could have been a lot better (Xeno-Fifield, explaining the touching of the space-Cobra, and so on). They need better human characters and there Prometheus is a prime example of how they shall Not be made. We as an audience got to be able to see ourselves in the characters or at least sympathize with them in some way otherwise it will be crap. Even though Alien Covenant was a step in the right direction character wise it was far from enough but still it was a positive surprise to me in that way.

My belief is that Alien 5 in the context of Prometheus and Alien increased the quality of Covenant since it drew it closer to the Xeno. Not that I would have watched Blomkamp’s planned movie but it probably made AC more interesting.

The black goo is interesting but it should also be kept closer to the Xeno. This doesn’t mean that we need to see the exact link between the goo and the Xeno but just enough to see much clearer the link between them compared to what we were given in Prometheus. Some mystery is nice to have.

Keep a closer connection to the Xeno compared to Prometheus, and they got to explain the Engineers connection to the SJ and Xeno. If the Engineer will say something that is important to the story then they will need Sub-titles (!) because that scene with Weyland and the Engineer is still frustrating to see. What is even worse is that they had a version that explained it better but they threw it into the trash-can.

With Lindelof gone and that we were given a better movie with Alien Covenant my hopes have been getting bigger that we will get a better movie with the sequel to Alien Covenant that will be better than AC and Prometheus. I wouldn’t mind if they kept the writers for AC. My fear is that they will make it as disappointing as Prometheus as far as the characters are concerned and the Xeno connection and as a result consequence of the Xeno connection how they portray the Engineers.

Keep the Engineers like biological terminators and make them less close to human DNA (not, they are us, that is lame). They got to be a lot more frightening (frightening with a capital F) compared to Prometheus because my reaction to them in Prometheus was like I shrugged and thought “Oh yeah? So? Was that all?”. Unfortunately, they were a total disappointment I didn’t like it at all how they were portrayed.

Yes a closer link to the Xeno and the deadly biology as far as the Engineers and the goo are concerned would be welcome. Keep the source of the goo a mystery since it could be as interesting as the Xeno if it is being done right.

The Xeno connection in Prometheus was lame. The Hammerpede worm that entered the mouth of Fifield was nasty but it didn’t have enough of a Xeno connection even though the conection was there in a way. I kind of liked the deacon and the Squid.

It wouldn’t surprise me if your re-write was a lot better than how Prometheus turned out.

A translucent monster could be interesting but it should have some mystery about it also.

 Big Dave:

As far as the WY company goes it could be done right but it could be very difficult to do that in a good way. This is a reason why I think that they should leave that alone.

@BigDave

Why they seed worlds?  Could be a pragmatic reason.

Let's assume they have hundreds of experimental worlds seeded and all of them are more or less humanoids with some minor differences in mental and physical capabilities.

Then i would consider a planet like "planet 4" as an almost successful experiment and these lifeforms could be integreted in their greater society since they are almost as good as the originals.

With this mindset/plans i expect the Engineers endgoal is to create life so their society/race as a whole is stronger and more stable and less prone to be extinct (if natural catastrphic events happen, supernova, etc.).

They just made the same what we humans started (recently, eye blink in comparison to the Engineers) with the exploration of space & expansion into it.

Expand to the universe so they dont get extinct. But already with tens of millions of years headstart in technology, culture, body-evolution and numbers.