20th Century Fox‘s Alien: Covenant is currently in post-production, and The Irish Times has spoken to star Michael Fassbender to confirm that he will be playing not one but two roles in the anticipated Ridley Scott film.
“I am allowed to say I am playing two robots – Walter and David,” Fassbender said. “I think what’s great about it is that Ridley has gone back to the original DNA of Alien, the horror element of that. But is also has the scope and the scale of Prometheus. Ridley has cut it already. He is a machine. He is an incredible human being and he was in such good form. He is such an imaginative and mischievous figure.”
Michael Fassbender (reprising his Prometheus role of David as well as a new android Walter) stars in the film along with Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice), Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down), Demián Bichir (The Hateful Eight), Jussie Smolett (Empire), Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color), Carmen Ejogo (Selma), Callie Hernandez (Machete Kills), and Billy Crudup (Watchmen). Noomi Rapace is also expected to reprise her role as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw.
Set as the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that began with Prometheus, Alien: Covenant connects directly to Ridley Scott’s 1979 seminal work of science fiction. It begins with the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy. There, the crew discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world — whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David, survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.
Jack Paglen (Transcendence) and Michael Green (Green Lantern) are providing the Alien: Covenant screenplay, which Ridley Scott once again directs. 20th Century Fox is set to distribute the film in theaters on August 4, 2017.
