There's just over a week left in 2016 at the time of writing this - meaning there's just enough time for (at least) one more big trailer release, following on the heels of trailer launches for a number of noteworthy films slated to hit theaters in the first 6-7 months of 2017. 20th Century Fox has, in turn, spent much of the week leading up to the 2016 winter holiday frame teasing the impending arrival of the trailer for director Ridley Scott's sci-fi/horror film, Alien: Covenant.
Both footage from and the trailer for Covenant - a movie that aims to bridge the gap between Scott's 2012 Alien franchise quasi-prequel Prometheus and the filmmaker's original 1979 classic Alien - were shown to members of the press, at a Fox event in the early goings of this month. It has now been confirmed that the trailer for Covenant will indeed be released online on Christmas Day itself, December 25th.
The news was revealed by way of (what else?) a teaser for the Alien: Covenant trailer, which you can check out above. Being a teaser, the video doesn't actually reveal anything about the film's storyline or characters; instead, it treats everyone to the ominous visual of a Xenomorph egg as it starts to open, threatening to reveal the face-hugging creature within.
Covenant picks up about a decade after the events of Prometheus, as a team of space explorers (who, it appears, are also employees of the Weyland-Yutani corporation) find their way to a mysterious and dangerous world that seems uninhabited... save for the android David (Michael Fassbender), his head reattached to his body. The crew of the Covenant then find themselves face to face with a new extraterrestrial threat; a tweaked version of the iconic Xenomorph, known for now as simply the Neomorph.
Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) stars in Covenant as Daniels, a character who is rumored to be connected to Ellen Ripley from the previous Alien films - or failing that, shares a similar fashion sense. It seems safe to assume that although the first Covenant trailer won't shed more light on that particular mystery, it should provide a sneak peek at the Neomorphs in action, as well as the humans who will soon be running for their lives from the creatures.
Whereas Prometheus was somewhat controversial for the way in which it expands the Alien mythos but only tangentially addresses certain longstanding questions surrounding the original Alien (among other issues), Fox has marketed Covenant as being more of a proper prequel to Scott's 1979 classic, starting by having "Alien" in the title. The Covenant trailer is expected to keep to that promotional throughline too, by selling the film as being a smart, yet gruesome horror/thriller that's scarier and more firmly rooted in established Alien franchise history than Prometheus is.
Be sure and check back here on Screen Rant tomorrow, for the full Alien: Covenant trailer!
NEXT: How Alien Covenant's Daniels Differs from Ripley
Source: 20th Century Fox