[Potential MILD SPOILERS ahead for Alien: Covenant.]
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After launching one of the most popular sci-fi/thriller franchises in movie history, Ridley Scott returned to the Alien universe in 2012 for a prequel/spinoff to his first film in Prometheus. The movie brought audiences back into a familiar world, but had plenty of new ideas and characters to match. The movie takes place well before the time of Sigourney Weaver's Ripley, putting the android David (Michael Fassbender) and Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) front and center. In the sequel Alien: Covenant, Scott has kept David in a leading role, but has also brought in Katherine Waterston (Steve Jobs) as the new female lead.
Waterston is not alone as a new character in the franchise, but she appears to have a potentially big role for this film - and possibly beyond. While the plot has largely been kept under wraps, it appears that Scott has been able to sneak one more familiar face from Prometheus into Covenant (along with Fassbender and Rapace).
AvPGalaxy is reporting that Guy Pearce will be making his return as Peter Weyland in Alien: Covenant after first appearing in Prometheus. According to their report, he will return as a younger version of the character than before, in a flashback scene that will be used to open up the film. Reportedly, the scene features Weyland testing David 8 when the two get into a conversation about God. AvPGalaxy explains the conversation as follows:
David explains that it is about God’s abandoning their creations due their displeasure with their creation’s greed and vanity, only to realize that the Gods themselves sharing the same flaws. This leads to David and Peter discussing Gods and creations and human mortality which strikes a chord with Weyland.
Should this prove to be true, it would further explore Weyland's interest in finding the Engineers. In Prometheus, Weyland approves the mission to LV-223 with the hope that an encounter with the Engineers will grant him a longer life. In order to have this possible encounter, Weyland was secrelty stored away onboard the spaceship Prometheus. He eventually does meet an Engineer, but ends up being killed in the process. With Covenant set up to further explore the history behind the Engineers, opening up the film with this scene and a younger, more recognizable Guy Pearce makes sense.
This appears to be one of many possible connections that Covenant will have to not only Prometheus, but also the Alien films that follow chronologically. Leaked Covenant set photos highlight highlight a new breed of Xenomorph (known for now as the "Neomorph"), while Rapace is reported to be reprising her role as Elizabeth - and rumor has it Waterston's character has an important connection to Scott's original Alien. If this new report on Pearce pans out, it will only further strengthen the connection between Covenant and the rest of the Alien film universe (Prometheus included).
NEXT: More Details on Covenant's 'Neomorphs'
Source: AvPGalaxy