The ‘Alien’ Franchise Almost Went in a Very Different Direction

As the next few projects from the Alien franchise are currently in different stages of development, it’s time to look back at the last story set in this universe that premiered on the big screen. Alien: Covenant was released in theaters back in 2017, and the disappointing box office performance of the sequel caused the series to step back and think carefully about its next move. The potential for subsequent stories was present, as there was less uncertainty surrounding the franchise. However, it appears that a different plot for the installment was planned after the release of Prometheus, and it would’ve taken the story of Covenant in a very different direction.

After the release of the 2012 blockbuster, Damon Lindelof, the writer of the film, expressed how the sequel was originally going to deal with the other creature made by the Engineers. While one of their creations ended up being the monster that chased Sigourney Weaver during the events of the original movie, the fate of the second creature was left unknown, and the franchise hasn’t had a chance to explore it yet. It is common in the industry for things to change in the middle of the pre-production process, and this was such a case. Here’s what Lindelof had to say about the original ideas regarding Alien: Covenant:

“Ridley Scott was very interested in talking about “What are the answers to the questions Prometheus is posing that are not necessarily definitely spelled out in the body of Prometheus?” I said to him: “We should be prepared for people to be frustrated if we’re going to be withholding, so we have to be very careful about what we’re saving for later because it’s not a forgone conclusion that there are going to be sequels. And so, if there isn’t a sequel, just be comfortable with what we gave them in this movie.”

Initially, Lindelof intended Prometheus to spawn its own separate franchise. “This movie has two children: One of these grows up to be Alien, but the other child is going to grow up, and God knows what happens to them,” he explained. “And that’s what the sequel to Prometheus would be.”

Ridley Scott was making bold decisions when casting Michael Fassbender in the role of David, an android designed to accompany the humans of the story as a butler on their ship. However, the character longed for a soul, similar to the replicants of Blade Runner, complicating the relationship he had with the people he was supposed to be taking care of. The character would end up feeling jealousy and envy, setting the stage for his sudden change of heart. It turns out that David wanted to ally himself with the Engineers, but the powerful beings didn’t care about him, resulting in the android’s elimination. However, Scott was insistent on keeping the character alive, I know where it’s going. I know that to keep [David] alive is essential and to keep [Elizabeth] alive is essential and to go where they came from, not where I came from, is essential.”

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Back in 2012, Scott always knew that the Engineers would be fairly menacing, calling them “aggressive f—ers” in an interview with Movies.com (now Fandango). He said “I always had it in there that the God-like creature that you will see actually is not so nice, and is certainly not God.” He certainly intended to keep going with this thread of the franchise saying:

“If we’ve opened up this door which I hope we have because I certainly would like to do another one I’d love to explore where the hell [Dr. Shaw] goes next and what does she do when she gets there because if it is paradise, paradise can not be what you think it is. Paradise has a connotation of being extremely sinister and ominous.”

The Other Bizarre Idea for the Alien Universe

While the franchise ultimately went in a different direction for Covenant, during another interview with Collider, the filmmaker shared another concept he had in mind for the franchise: the reveal that Jesus Christ would have been sent to Earth by the Engineers. Then, because humanity would eventually crucify him, the Engineers would decide humanity should be destroyed. Scott explained, that that was initially in the script but it was cut because “we thought it was a little too on the nose.” He went on to discuss the concept, saying “If you look at it as an our children are misbehaving down there scenario, there are moments where it looks like we’ve gone out of control, running around with armor and skirts, which of course would be the Roman Empire. And they were given a long run. ” He intended to weave the lore into our own history, “a thousand years before their disintegration actually started to happen. And you can say, Let’s send down one more of our emissaries to see if he can stop it. Guess what? They crucified him.”

Thankfully, before any controversy could come out of that concept, the project changed drastically, and audiences ended up watching a very different film from the one Scott and Lindelof had in mind after the release of Prometheus. It remains to be seen if the new Alien projects currently in development will receive a positive response when they are eventually released.

Alien: Covenant is available to stream on FXNow. For now, you can catch up on everything we know about Fede Álvarez‘s Alien 9 which is currently filming in Budapest, and Noah Hawley‘s Alien series which entered pre-production earlier this year.