While visually stunning with powerful performances from its cast, the focus on visuals and mythological themes, deleted scenes that helped to expand on some of the information not included in the theatrical release.
With 2012's Prometheus, director Ridley Scott returned to the Alien franchise for the first time in over thirty years. A prequel to Scott's original 1979 landmark gothic horror in space blockbuster Alien, the film blended science and mythology to explore the origins of the fearsome xenomorphs. Completely upending the established backstory at the time, Prometheus traced the creation of the xenomorphs back to the Engineers, a mysterious race of extraterrestrials who used their genetically engineered black goo to create life and living weapons on various planetary systems throughout the galaxy.
Even with all of this shocking world-building, the blue creature glimpsed bursting from the chest of an Engineer in the final moments of the film was revealed to be a prototype xenomorph nicknamed the Deacon. It would not be until the release of Alien: Covenant five years later that the full origin of the xenomorphs would be revealed. It turns out that the original xenomorphs were the work of rogue android David, played by Michael Fassbender, who viewed both humans and the Engineers as genetically inferior and had built on the work of the Engineers to create the perfect organism.
Why Prometheus' Deleted Scenes Explained Alien's Prequel Better
Starting at the beginning, there is an expanded version of the opening of the film where a lone Engineer stands on a bluff ingesting a black substance that causes his body to disintegrate and his DNA to seed the planet's waters. The deleted scene shows several other Engineers standing nearby, revealing that this is a type of sacrificial ceremony as opposed to a purely scientific pursuit. Though it may seem a small difference in screen , this speaks volumes about the nature and culture of the Engineers. The scene was cut to enhance the mysteriousness of the Engineers.
Another deleted scene is a flashback sequence taking place back on earth. It shows the mission's mysterious benefactor, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) lounging on a yacht with young women feeding him grapes while David watches from close by. It's no small stretch to guess that Weyland views himself as something of a God.
This theme comes back in a later deleted scene involving a revived Engineer speaking with Weyland, who has been revealed to be very much alive. With David acting as an interpreter, it is revealed that the entire expedition was a cover for the sick and elderly Weyland's megalomania. This scene hammers home the mythological theme of Prometheus, namely the consequences of playing God and the quest for immortality, alluding to everything from the Greek myth which gives the film its name to the story of Frankenstein's monster.
