‘Alien: Covenant’ Roundtable With Ridley Scott Talks Ripley’s Parents And Covenant 2

SXSW is in full swing and 20th Century Fox hosted a press event and roundtable for their upcoming Prometheus sequel and Alien prequel, Alien: Covenant. With Director Sir Ridley Scott, and actors Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride talking about the film they also fielded a few questions to the energized audience.

Responding to one question about the rumor that there was a direct familial link between Waterston’s character, Daniels, is related to Ripley (Sigourney Weaver’s character from the original series of films). He replied, “No. That was probably way back when, ‘Should she be the daughter of Ripley? I said ‘no’ . She’s herself.” Given that it has the feel that it might have been part of an early concept, but had been long since dropped along the way.

Speaking about his fondness for the Alien films, he said, “I enjoy making them so much, honestly, I would like it to go on forever.” He also touched on the fact that Covenant 2 is locked and loaded, with the script finalized and work set to begin. Earlier in the week, in speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Scott said:

If you really want a franchise, I can keep cranking it for another six. I’m not going to close it down again. No way.

Actor, McBride, who plays the captain of the colony ship Covenant, quipped that now that he’s in an Alien movie his parents, “finally think I’m making real movies now.”

On the topic of the Engineers, Scott was asked if they were the ones who had created humanity and if there were going to be more clues around them. He said, “The Engineers are a metaphor for a superior being; therefore they are the superior beings. There will be more clues… the irrelevancy of humans is one of the big questions tackled. The film’s [Covenant] prologue sets up what you then will see as the evolution of that”.

The cast for the movie also includes Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, James Franco, Demian Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Amy Seimetz, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, Nathaniel Dean, Alexander England, Benjamin Rigby and Billy Crudup. Alien: Covenant is set for release on May 19.