Alien: Covenantwas poised to be one of the biggest hits of the year, but ultimately wound up being a big disappointment at the box office. And, at very best, it was divisive among fans and critics. Given the reaction toPrometheus, Ridley Scott ultimately decided to lean more heavily on the Xenomorph and its origins inAlien: Covenant. However, at one point, the movie was going byPrometheus 2and, thanks to some newly revealed concept art, we see that it would have been a much different movie had that version gone forward.
The art comes from an artist named Khang Le. As pointed out by the fan site AvP Galaxy, “Though he doesn’t appear to be credited on the film, we have confirmed that Khang did work in Covenant’s art department back in 2014.” The art for what would have beenPrometheus 2was on Le’s personal website, which has been down for a handful of days. There are more than 30 images to look at, depicting a concept much more heavy on the Engineers. In the entire batch of images, there’s not a single, fully-formedXenomorph.
InAlien: Covenant, the plot hinged on Michael Fassbender’s David being stuck on a planet for years since the events ofPrometheusand engineering the Xenomorphs himself. Based on this concept art, it looks like Ridley Scott would have followed a path that sees the Engineers ultimately become the Xenomorphs. David is still featured in a piece of this art, but he doesn’t appear to be the architect of the famed creature as he ultimately became in theAlienprequel we got.Prometheus 2looks like it would have leaned very heavily into the first movie and relied a lot less on the iconic imagery of theAlien franchise.
It’s hard to say if this would have been a better decision at the end of the day.Prometheusgrossed $403.4 million at the box office. That’s a whole lot better thanAlien: Covenant’s $240.7 million. Then again, is the lackluster reception toPrometheusamong fans of the franchise to blame for the hit thatCovenanttook? It’s possible. WouldPrometheus 2have been able to overcome thatlackluster reception without the Xenomorph? It really is hard to say, but this concept art is fascinating in hindsight.
It wasn’t until September of 2015 thatPrometheus 2becameAlien: Paradise Lost, which then becameAlien: Covenant. So this concept depicted in these images was scrapped quite some time ago. Given where theAlienfranchise is at now, which may be completely dead, as Fox is said to be holding off on theAlien: Covenantsequel and Disney isn’t likely to let Ridley Scott make one once the Disney acquisition of Fox is finalized, it’s hard to not wonder if this would have been better or worse. You can check out the full gallery ofPrometheus 2concept art over atAvP Galaxy.
