Alien: Covenant – Was Ridley Scott’s ‘Lost Patch’ Actually a Misunderstood Lore Drop?
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
Dive into why *Alien: Covenant*, often seen as a misstep, might actually be a profoundly misunderstood lore patch in the legendary *Alien* franchise, offering a deeper mythological context that's now being overlooked by new creators.
Right, so remember the *Alien* franchise? That legendary, terrifying space-horror saga that basically invented the biomechanical monster aesthetic? For ages, it felt a bit like one of those beloved game series that just… drifted. You had your undisputed classics, *Alien* and *Aliens*, which are basically the *Doom* and *Quake* of cinematic sci-fi horror – foundational, genre-defining. But then, much like some unfortunate sequel builds, things started getting a bit… wonky. We won't even talk about some of those later instalments, bless 'em. It was a bit like playing a fantastic single-player campaign only to find the co-op mode completely borked.
Then, out of nowhere, Disney – yep, *that* Disney, the House of Mouse that swallowed 20th Century Fox like a particularly shiny pixel – decides to give the Xenomorphs a proper reboot. And fair dinkum, they've actually managed to pull it off. *Alien: Romulus* apparently landed like a critical hit, already spawning promises of a sequel. And soon, we're getting *Alien: Earth*, which, if the name’s anything to go by, will bring the creepy crawlies down to our neck of the woods for the first ever *Alien* TV show. Bloody hell, it’s all happening.
But while we're all excitedly waiting to see what fresh horrors this new dev team has cooked up, I’ve been tinkering with some of the older files, and a thought hit me: what about Ridley Scott's ill-fated prequels, *Prometheus* and *Alien: Covenant*? You know, the ones that felt a bit too 'thinky' for a lot of the player base, more like a philosophical exploration of cosmic horror than a straight-up monster romp. *Prometheus* came out in 2012, and then *Covenant* dropped in 2017, and let's be honest, they occupied a pretty awkward spot in the franchise lore.
See, after *Prometheus* got a bit of a hammering for not feeling 'Alien' enough – which, I mean, fair cop, it was certainly a different beast – you'd think Scott would just pivot hard, right? Give the people what they want: more facehuggers, more chest-bursts, more space marines. And on the surface, *Covenant* seemed to do just that. It tried to blend *Prometheus*'s sprawling, philosophical world-building with all the classic tropes we expect: abandoned ships, terrifying monsters, and a bit of a good old-fashioned shootout. The thing is, it didn't quite coalesce into a perfect game – err, movie – but it definitely had some memorable moments. And almost all of those came courtesy of the deviously evil robot, David, played by Michael Fassbender. He was basically the MVP of the whole prequel campaign, a truly captivating, chilling antagonist.
Now, here's where it gets interesting, mate. You might assume *Covenant* was a direct reaction, a 'fix-it patch' for *Prometheus*'s perceived shortcomings. But according to Scott himself, that wasn't quite it. Turns out, the sequel was already well into development. David was always meant to survive *Prometheus* because Scott had a grander vision, a planned trilogy that would wrap up David’s story and, crucially, definitively explain the origins of the Xenomorphs and their enigmatic creators, the Engineers. It was a bold move, like a game developer planning out a multi-game narrative arc from the very beginning, even if the first instalment didn't quite land with everyone.
But what does this mean for the future of the *Alien* universe? Well, the new *Alien: Earth* showrunner, Noah Hawley, has apparently gone on record saying that the events of *Prometheus* and *Covenant* weren't 'useful' to him. Ouch. While he was careful to nod respectfully to Scott, Hawley basically reckons the whole 'Xenomorphs are a biological weapon created by David' angle (which, let’s be honest, was a bit murky in the films themselves, a bit like trying to follow a convoluted lore codex) was less compelling than the original *Alien*'s implied idea that they're a 'perfect life form' that just… evolved. And Scott himself recently proclaimed he's 'done' with the franchise. It’s a bit like a new studio head coming in and saying, 'Yeah, all that deep lore the previous team spent years building? Nah, we’re just gonna streamline it.' You see this happen in gaming all the time, right?
Hawley isn't entirely wrong, mind you. The original *Alien* is still a masterpiece, a tight, terrifying experience that didn’t need reams of backstory. It benefited from the mystery. But I reckon he might be missing a crucial point about *Covenant* and Scott's grander design. Scott wasn't just trying to fill in a Wiki entry for the Xenomorph. He was attempting to build a whole mythology around the franchise – a gritty, almost biblical space epic that would provide a profound, terrifying context for the brutal dystopian future the *Alien* universe inhabits. Without that deeper mythology, that underlying lore, all we're left with is the cool retrofuturistic aesthetic and the jump scares. And while those are great, they can only carry a franchise so far, can't they?
It seems pretty clear that the upcoming *Alien* saga might increasingly ignore Scott’s planned prequel trilogy. The new 'build' of the franchise is moving in a different direction. But even as the story progresses, it’s genuinely worth revisiting *Alien: Covenant*. It’s a messy film, no doubt, a bit like a game with some fantastic ideas but a few clunky mechanics. Yet, it tried to give the *Alien* universe a deeper origin story, a richer mythology, and in its own strange, ambitious way, it kind of succeeded. It’s a testament to a developer’s vision, even when it’s not universally embraced. A misunderstood patch, perhaps, but one with some seriously intriguing lore drops if you're willing to dig into the code.
And hey, if you're curious to dive back into this particular slice of space horror, *Alien: Covenant* is streaming now on HBO Max (and on Hulu too, for those of you across the pond).
Tags: sci-fi horror, franchise reboots, lore disputes, game design analogies, film analysis
Original article: Polygon