Alien: Covenant, the next film in the long-running franchise that began all the way back in 1979 with Ridley Scott's chest-burstingly scary Alien is gearing up for release in May of 2017. So far, production on the film has been remarkably open with regard to sharing details and behind-the-scenes photos of the cast and crew (but not xenomorphs), encouraging audiences to get excited about the post-Prometheus adventure that promises a "much scarier" product this time around.
Despite the apparent transparency with Scott's production, there hasn't been much in the way of actual marketing for the film, which isn't too much of a surprise as it's still several months away from hitting theaters. Still, Fox isn't going to let a solid chance at dominating the news cycle in this pre-holiday slowdown of entertainment news slip by. As such, the studio has seen fit to quietly release a teaser poster for Alien: Covenant that certainly implies the rumors of the film being more frightening than its immediate predecessor are true.
The poster brings to mind the simple image of the original film's poster, with its alien egg cast in a bright green light by presenting the familiar face of a green-tinted xenomorph below the word "Run." As a piece of marketing, the teaser is a model of simplicity, reminding audiences of why they have been watching the series for the better part of 40 years, while at the same time offering some sage advice to the characters in the film.
Strange as it may sound, those characters might actually be more interesting than the invasive alien species snarling front-and-center on the new poster. Covenant has amassed an impressive cast that includes returning Prometheus cast members Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace, playing the android David and Elizabeth Shaw, respectively. However, since the last time anyone saw him David's head was a tad disengaged from the rest of his body, early reports suggest Fassbender will have multiple roles in the film – all as androids.
Since the film is titled Alien: Covenant and not Prometheus 2, Scott & co. have expanded the cast to also include Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them star Katherine Waterston, as well as Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, and possibly Guy Pearce as Peter Weyland. That's an impressive and unexpected line-up of stars on hand to help emphasize the shift toward Alien territory and away from what was established in Prometheus, which certainly seems clear if you've seen the early set photos revealing Waterston's character Daniels, who bears a strong resemblance to Sigourney Weaver's Ripley.
Similarity to previous protagonists and confirmed xenomorphs aside, the series has also been hinting at a return of the film's patented body-horror scares in the form of the disturbing facehugger and the unfortunate outcome for anyone unlucky enough to live through a run-in with the transitory parasite. According to the Alien: Covenant Fan Website, the crews working on the film were handed a nifty facehugger poster as a thank you for their work. The poster, labeled "Creature Crew" takes on the look of a scientific journal, complete with a sketch of the nasty little bugger and some handwritten notes detailing aspects of its anatomy. Check out the poster below:
Source: 20th Century Fox, Alien: Covenant Fan Website