Ridley Scott’s Alien Sequel Return Chances Addressed By Covenant Star 7 Years After Cliffhanger Ending

By Grant Hermanns

Published Nov 24, 2024

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With Ridley Scott planning a return to the Alien: Covenant has led to the story largely moving away from the prequel trilogy arc Scott had planned.

During a recent interview with The Playlist to discuss her spy show The Agency, which also stars Fassbender, Waterston was asked her thoughts on returning for Scott's new Alien movie he's said to be developing. The Covenant star was decidedly hopeful about the chance to reprise her character, feeling that they had only just scratched the surface of her development by the end of the movie, though acknowledged if it doesn't happen, she'll be there "opening weekend" to watch the film. See what Waterston said below:

That’s so overwhelmingly exciting to me, that he might do another, even if [Daniels] bit the dust in that cryo-pod, I would be so excited for him to do another. I would love to be a part of it. I’d love to work with him again. He’s an incredible person, a legend in our time, and a wonderful collaborator. I personally—and maybe this is just because I’m selfish— but I saw a way that [Daniels] make it out of there. I also always felt with that storyline that she was a budding hero, that in that film she was discovering she sort of had what it took to rise up but didn’t really get to yet. So, I mean, I would love to do it. But if it just comes to me being there with my popcorn, I’ll be there opening weekend.

What Waterston's Comments Mean For Her Alien Future

Even She's In The Dark On Daniels' Fate

Though the franchise has certainly delivered a number of still-unresolved mysteries throughout its lifetime, Alien: Covenant's cliffhanger ending remains one of the most discussed, due in part to being fresher in audiences' memories than the older movies. Having survived their ordeal and returned to the Covenant, Daniels and Danny McBride's Tennessee prepared to re-enter cryosleep, only for the former to realize David incapacitated Walter right as she lost consciousness. The android then regurgitated two facehugger embryos and included them in cold storage, leaving all three of their fates unknown.

Just based on Waterston's comments above, it seems apparent that audiences aren't the only ones in the dark on Daniels' fate in Alien: Covenant. Considering the gap between the 2017 film and Prometheus saw fellow female heroine, Noomi Rapace's Elizabeth Shaw, killed to be part of David's experiments to create new lifeforms, it seems highly probable that Waterston's character could similarly be explained to have died in the time since her movie. This seems all the more likely considering Scott's recent comments criticizing his work on both Prometheus and Covenant.

David (Michael Fassbender) from Prometheus and a neomorph from Alien: Covenant

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That being said, there is still a chance that Waterston could return for the next Alien movie, given Scott has indicated his movie will serve as a sequel to Covenant. The recent success of Alien: Romulus has likely affirmed for the four-time Oscar nominee that there is still some interest in his prequel storyline, given the 2024 installment featured connections to the prior films, namely that of the black goo, all of which co-writer/director Fede Álvarez said was intentional to bridge the franchise's timeline.

Our Take On Waterston's Potential Alien Franchise

Daniels' Fate Seems Grim Either Way

Katherine Waterston as Daniels looking upset in her space suit in Alien: Covenant

As much as I would be delighted to see her back in the franchise, part of me would feel better not knowing Daniels' fate after the Alien: Covenant cliffhanger ending. Not only would I not like to see her suffer the same fate as Shaw from the 2017 sequel, but considering how much she knows about Weyland-Yutani's involvement in some of these activities, it seems likely any future Alien movie would have to explain that Daniels died or has been locked away by the corporation. As such, it might be better for her fate to be left a mystery going into Scott's next movie.

Source: The Playlist