While we still don’t know much about what Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and David (Michael Fassbender) have been up to since the end of Prometheus, we’ve seen more and more from the set of follow-up Alien: Covenant. Following a new ship, the Covenant, as it discovers David on the fallen Eden-like homeworld of the alien Engineers (who have identical DNA to us, don’t ask).
The new Covenant crew so far consists of Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride and Demian Bichir. Queen of Earth (our review) and Inherent Vice (our review) were movies that proved Waterston’s rising star, while Demian Bichir stood out in a crowded field in last year’s Tarantino Western The Hateful Eight. This is one hell of a lineup for the kind of disposable characters typical of the series, since this new crew presumably exists to get holes plucked out of their faces by those little alien xenomorph mini-mouth tooth goobers.
But the weirdest and most oddly exciting casting has to be Danny McBride. Except for appearances in some of James Franco’s directorial efforts and Cameron Crowe’s disastrous Aloha, McBride is rarely seen in non-comedies. Most well-known for Pineapple Express, This is the End and Eastbound & Down, McBride’s dickish on-screen persona is exactly the kind of guy to whip off a caustic line or two before getting impregnated by facehuggers.
So will he be Alien: Covenant ’s Hudson (Bill Paxton’s character in Aliens)? This first picture of McBride onboard a spaceship suggests that he may just be our pilot, rather than a surly and cowardly space marine:
Ridley Scott proved he still has sci-fi chops with The Martian, so there’s still hope for Alien: Covenant after Prometheus . With the talent assembled thing are certainly looking up for the new alien prequel, due out in theaters August 4, 2017.
