Summary

• David 8 was intended to be the new villain of the Alien series, with the threat of A.I. replacing the Xenomorph.
• Following Covenant, David performed experiments on the crew, intending to create his "perfect" lifeform.
• The Marvel comics suggest David became a Messianic figure to other synthetics.

Michael Fassbender's David 8 was intended to become the new villain of the series, but what became of him following Alien movie franchise was a big deal when it was announced, though his two prequels proved divisive among audiences and critics. Perhaps the studio should have sensed trouble when the iconic filmmaker kept declaring in interviews that the Xenomorph was "cooked," and the saga needed a replaced monster. To the filmmaker, A.I. is a far scarier threat, so Scott wanted to replace the Xenomorph with Michael Fassbender's David.

Introduced as the android assistant to his "father" Weyland (Guy Pearce) in Prometheus, David was shown to have a seething contempt for the people he was programmed to serve. The ending of Prometheus saw Noomi Rapace's Shaw and David fly off in search of the Engineers and their homeworld - though the next entry revealed that David killed both them and Shaw. Alien: Covenant's ending would set up another entry where David would become the ultimate threat, but after the film's reception, the series was instead soft rebooted with Fede Álvarez's Alien: Romulus.

David Performed Experiments On The Covenant Crew

Alien: Covenant's disturbing ending made the android's intentions clear

The big reveal in Covenant's final scene is that Fassbender's kindly Walter was been killed offscreen and replaced by David, who intends to continue crafting his "perfect" lifeform now he's no longer stranded on the Engineer homeworld. To do this end, David needs lots of human specimens, which he has in abundance thanks to the Covenant spaceship containing thousands of crew in cryosleep.

The way David's Xenomorph creations were destroyed by the sequel's heroes made it clear they weren't quite "perfect" yet, so he'll need to run more tests. Alien: Covenant's titular ship also has many years left to reach its destination planet Origae-6, so the android will have lots of free time on his hands. The 2017 film is unique in that it received two short film sequels that expanded on David's intentions beyond Covenant's ending.

Advent was included on home video releases of Covenant and saw David sending a transmission to Weyland-Yutani discussing his experiments and plans to create a new species. He also hints that Katherine Waterston's Daniels could become his Alien Queen. David's Lab: Last Signs of Life then arrived in 2019 and acted as an Advent sequel, with a team from Weyland-Yutani discovering David's abandoned lab and after being awed by his work, a luckless researcher gets attacked by a Facehugger.

David's Philosophies Continued With Other Androids

It makes sense that David would develop a God complex

The comic series keeps David's fate a mystery, but it appears his teachings and thoughts on mankind and synthetics have spread throughout the universe.

A direct sequel to Covenant never happened (at least, not yet), but that doesn't mean David has been erased from canon. David even got namedropped in the Marvel Alien comics series by two synthetic characters who survived a Xenomorph encounter. One of them mentions reading the philosophic musings of David, who seemingly became a messiah of sorts to his kind following the century that has ed since the events of Alien: Covenant.

The comic series keeps David's fate a mystery, but it appears his teachings and thoughts on both mankind and synthetics have spread throughout the universe. Assuming the events of Covenant are still canon within the Alien franchise, it appears David himself was behind the events of the original 1979 film also, having set Weyland-Yutani on the trail of the Xenomorphs in the first place.

Michael Fassbender's Covenant characters David and Walter were named after Alien producers David Giler and Walter Hill.

It's little surprise that the android's thoughts on the free will of A.I. may have struck a cord - even if he was proposing annihilation for the entire human race too. His words may have inspired both Ash (Ian Holm) and Call (Winona Ryder) too, with both having mixed views on the human race. Some fan theories propose that David transformed into the Space Jockey from Alien, having used the Engineer's "Black Goo" on himself; unfortunately, it's unknown what Scott actually had in mind for David's ending.

Ridley Scott's Canceled Alien: Covenant Sequel Would've Continued David's Story

David 8 vs The Engineers is a pitch that sells itself

While promoting Alien: Covenant, Scott was very enthusiastic about the franchise's future. The third prequel was rumored to be called Alien: Awakening, and would feature David continuing his Dr Moreau-style experiments whilst being hunted by vengeful Engineers. Scott was also suggesting there could be two more outings before his prequel series connected back to Alien, leading into Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) story. However, Covenant received mixed reviews (though it's rated "Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes at 65%) and tepid box office, stopping Scott's plan dead in its tracks.

Instead, Alien: Romulus will reset the series, and will be a survival horror exercise that intends to make the Xenomorph scary again. This is the best move, though it's a shame David 8's arc won't get paid off. Regardless of the faults of Scott's prequels, Fassbender's David is a fascinating character, and it would have been great to see the rogue synthetic's story play out to completion after Alien: Covenant's epic cliffhanger.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes