Leading up the the theatrical release of Alien: Covenant from director Ridley Scott, all eyes are looking ahead to what could be a great continuation of Scott's last Alien franchise installment, Prometheus. Ahead of the new movie's premiere next summer, Scott has seen fit to tease audiences with plenty of exclusive set photos and a special effects video from the film's set, detailing the rebirth of the now-iconic Xenomorph alien creature.

Alien: Covenant promises to deliver a "much scarier" viewing experience compared to what Prometheus had to offer. While that's simply what Covenant costars like Danny McBride (serving in a rare dramatic role here) are saying right now, the film does appear to be coming together nicely - and as the project continues through post-production, more information about the version of the Xenomorph featured in Covenant has made its way online.

Michael Fassbender (who is reprising his Prometheus role as David in Alien: Covenant) let it slip in an interview on BBC Radio 2 (h/t to BMD) that the new Xenomorphs featured in Covenant are known as "Neomorphs". AVP Galaxy has additional information concerning the film's plot, where it relates to the biology of the "Neomorphs". The creatures reportedly spawn in an ecosystem that has been mutated by the black goo seen in Prometheus. Pods that grow on trees in said ecosystem release spores that are responsible for infecting members of the Covenant expedition in the film - and cause nasty physical deformities in their hosts, the likes of which haven't been seen in any of the Alien films released to date.

For more potentially SPOILER-y details on the "Neomorphs" in Covenant, head on over to AVP Galaxy.

Granted, much of the information being revealed has not been 100% confirmed as of yet. It nonetheless appears as though Alien: Covenant is drawing on material that was previously included in William Gibson's early script draft for Alien 3, written back in the late 1980s. Prometheus similarly incorporated unused ideas and early concepts originally imagined for Scott's original 1979 Alien film into the mix, so it stands to reason that Covenant may well be drawing inspiration from the discarded ideas for previous installments in the franchise, too.

All of this makes Alien: Covenant sound like an intriguing (and possibly exciting) addition to the larger franchise -  one that will hopefully prove more satisfying for those Alien fans who were under-whelmed by Prometheus. We're still a ways off from Scott's new movie making its way into theaters, so expect to learn (much?) more about the "Neomorphs" over the months ahead.

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Source: BBC Radio 2 and AVP Galaxy [via BMD]