Originally published May 13, 2019. Updated December 6, 2022.
After taking centre stage as the franchise’s lead in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus back in 2012, Noomi Rapace was originally set to continue exploring the story of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw in what eventually became Alien: Covenant.
However, Scott’s plans for the sequel changed and Rapace found herself relegated to the briefest of cameos and a quick appearance in an online prologue/short entitled The Crossing [watch it here], with her character killed off screen between movies.
Well, thanks to creature designer Carlos Huantes, we now have some insight into what was originally in store for Shaw in the first version of Covenant – a.k.a. Alien: Paradise Lost – with Huantes telling HN Entertainment (via Collider):
“Prior to the black goo genocide, I know that in the script I had, the early script, there was the story between Shaw and David, and how and why David got reassembled. That story happens at the beginning of the film but they kind of bypassed all of that which makes it a little more horrific in a way… In the first version of what was called Paradise / Prometheus 2, Shaw was alive. They find her and she’s been hiding from David the whole time and she helps them escape.
SEE ALSO: Details on the planned Alien: Covenant sequel Alien: Awakening have emerged
“She was hiding in the catacombs from David under the city and the story was that on her trip to the homeworld she got lonely and she had David hanging outside the ship, she didn’t want anything to do with him. But she still had to talk to him. Eventually, she ends up bringing his body in and reattaching him as they become friends during this trip. He ends up having affection for her in a friendship way.
“So they end up going to the city and that’s when David looks at her and tells that story ‘Do you trust me, do you trust that I love you and everything I’m going to do from this point on is because of you and that’s all to protect you’…she looks at him and says ‘Okay, yes I do’ so then he turns around and kills all the Engineers on the planet. It’s his own twisted way of vengeance for her; he kills the planet. She is like ‘Hey, I wanted to talk to these people’ but too late the whole planet is polluted now and everyone on the planet dies.”
SEE ALSO: Alien: Covenant star Katherine Waterston “absolutely game” for another Alien instalment
Are you disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of Shaw’s story play out in Covenant? What do you make of these original plans for the film compared to what we got? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or tweet us @FlickeringMyth…
Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created in ALIEN with ALIEN: COVENANT, the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that began with PROMETHEUS — and connects directly to Scott’s 1979 seminal work of science fiction. Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world — whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.
Alien: Covenant sees Ridley Scott reuniting with Prometheus star Michael Fassbender alongside new cast additions Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice), Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down), Demian Bichir (A Better Life), Billy Crudup (Watchmen), Jussie Smollett (Empire), Carmen Ejogo (Selma), Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color), Benjamin Rigby (That’s Not Me), Callie Hernandez (Machete Kills), Tess Haubrich (The Wolverine) and James Franco (Why Him?).
