Literary analysis of Alien: Covenant’s themes and meaning

What is Alien: Covenant about?

Alien: Covenant’s major theme is about the relationship between creators and their creations. As David says, near the end of the film, pretending to be Walter, “I think if we are kind, it will be a kind world.” There’s an unspoken corollary there: if we are unkind, it will be an unkind world. That ties back to creators and their creations. Covenant sets up a dichotomy between David and the humans who discover him. The humans are flawed but good people. While David is “the devil”. And we see the world he would create. As an artist, he doesn’t produce music or poetry. He births monsters. It’s a bleak movie that positions itself as not just another entry in the Alien franchise but a tragic counterpoint to Scott’s own Blade Runner. 

Cast

• David – Michael Fassbender
• Walter – Michael Fassbender
• Daniels – Katherine Waterston
• Chris Oram – Billy Crudup
• Tennessee – Danny McBride
• Dan Lope – Demián Bichir
• Ricks – Jussie Smollett
• Upworth – Callie Hernandez
• Karine Oram – Carmen Ejogo
• Maggie Faris – Amy Seimetz
• Jacob Branson – James Franco
• Peter Weyland – Guy Pearce
• Written by – Jack Paglen | Michael Green
• Directed by – Ridley Scott

How to understand Alien: Covenant

Alien: Covenant’s opening shot seemingly connects it to Blade Runner

Prometheus earned comparisons to Blade Runner for obvious reasons. Both are Ridley Scott movies concerned with characters trying to meet their makers. In the latter, it’s the replicant, Roy Batty, seeking out his human creator, Eldon Tyrell, to ask for more life. In the former, it’s Peter Weyland, on the brink of death, funding a mission across space to meet his creators, the Engineers, in the hope they can grant him more life. Both films ruminate on what it means to be created and the lack of perceived equality between the creators and their creations. Humans in Blade Runner look down on replicants the same way people in Prometheus talk down to David.

Despite the narrative and thematic similarities between the films, there isn’t necessarily much that formally unites them. For example, no one does something so obvious as mentioning a  “replicant”. And there aren’t any visual references. David doesn’t kiss Weyland on the lips like Batty does Tyrell. David doesn’t give a speech that starts with, “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe….” You just have plot beats that, while extremely similar, don’t rise beyond “isn’t that coincidental?” 

But then we have the opening shot of Alien: Covenant. David’s eyeball. It’s 100% a formal reference to the eye at the beginning of Blade Runner (and its sequel 2049). So now that we recognize a connection, we have to ask: what does this reference accomplish?

Well, the main hypothesis would be that Scott wants to connect the themes of Blade Runner with the themes of Alien: Covenant. What were the themes of Blade Runner? The main character, Rick Deckard, is a special officer who hunts runaway replicants. Over the course of his attempt to capture Roy Batty, he comes to realize that humans and replicants are the same. Replicants aren’t less-than simply because they were born in a lab. They’re still flesh and blood, still have souls and feelings. They love and hate. They fear and wonder. Batty’s desire for more life is a human desire. And being mad at his mortality is also a human reaction. And it teaches Deckard that he must value whatever time he has.

So at the core of Blade Runner is the dichotomy between humans and replicants. And characters who come to realize that a replicant’s feelings count. It’s not just programming. Does that apply to Alien: Covenant?

Yes. The answer is yes. Right at the beginning, after the eye shot, you have the contrast between Weyland and David. Human and synthetic. Creator and creation. And David almost immediately points out their differences and similarities. David: Allow me, then, a moment to consider. You seek your creator. I am looking at mine. I will serve you. Yet, you are human. You will die. I will not.

How does Weyland respond to this? He orders David to bring him tea, an act that re-establishes the power dynamic. Human > synthetic. 

Blade Runner is ultimately a story where the character comes away more tolerant. It is a relatively happy ending. While Covenant is the other side of the coin. A character becomes more aggressively prejudiced. One film emphasizes equality, the other the pitfalls of superiority. 

The urge to create

Tucked into the opening sequence between David and Weyland, we have an assortment of legendary creations from various mediums. A Carlo Bugatti chair. A Steinway piano. The Nativity by Piero della Francesca. Michaelangelo’s David. David himself—the most advanced android ever made. And then David plays a piece from Wagner’s Das Rheingold. 

When David asks who created Weyland, Weyland responds with: The question of the ages. Which I hope you and I will answer one day. All this, all these wonders of art and design, and human ingenuity, all utterly meaningless in the face of the only question that matters: where do we come from? I refuse to believe that mankind is a random byproduct of molecular circumstance, no more than the result of mere biological chance. No. There must be more. And you and I, son, we will find it. 

Let’s go back to David’s response to that—Allow me, then, a moment to consider. You seek your creator. I am looking at mine. I will serve you. Yet, you are human. You will die. I will not. 

Weyland doesn’t know his creator, so he believes artistic wonder pales in comparison to finding out where humans came from. David does know his creator, he knows exactly why he was created. Meaning the question has little importance to him. What matters isn’t the reason, but his own capacity to create. 

In both cases, the film seems to posit the urge to create as a desire to demonstrate one’s equality. That you aren’t merely a thing created but also capable of creation. Weyland got to prove that but was still haunted by not knowing his own raison d’être. David is free of that burden. So rather than worrying about the past, he throws himself into what’s next. 

Covenant is a colony mission

I like to use the word “resonate” when talking about minor elements that add up to form a motif. For example, in the movie The Silence of the Lambs, “the male gaze” is a theme and motif, especially since the protagonist is a female cadet for the FBI. The film culminates with Clarice in a dark basement where the villain, Buffalo Bill, stalks her via a pair of night vision goggles. The goggles resonate with the other moments throughout the film that emphasize men looking at Clarice. 

The use of resonances is something that beginner writers don’t often think about. They’re mostly concerned with just telling a coherent story. More advanced storytellers? They think about theme, symbolism, representation, and know about the power of motifs. 

For example, think about the ship in Covenant. Say you were writing the movie. What do you make the ship’s mission? It can be anything, right? As long as it’s out in space and near Planet 4 so it can receive the signal from David. In Alien, the Nostromo was a freighter, essentially a semi-truck in space. In Prometheus, the mission was a research expedition to discover the origin of life. In Romulus, the Romulus is a research station. So what would you make the Covenant? 

Screenwriter John Logan (or maybe one of his predecessors but we’ll credit him), went with a colony ship. Why? Because it resonates with David. As we discussed, David isn’t concerned with where he came from. He’s focused on future generations. By making the Covenant a colonization vessel, it creates a resonance with David that becomes a motif—both the humans and the android care about posterity. That positions Alien: Covenant as a movie about the fate of mankind.   

Couples and individuals 

We just talked about two aspects that resonate—David’s desire to create and the Covenant running a colony mission. Let’s add to that: the crew aboard the Covenant are all male-female couples. Why? On the plot level, it’s just part of being a colony mission. You hope the crew will lead the way when it comes to procreation. But on the thematic level, it’s another resonance that adds to a motif that becomes the film’s major theme—creation. 

But the emphasis on couples brings with it another layer beyond the idea of progeny/offspring. Companionship. The human characters cherish companionship. They have people they care about. Friends and life partners. Then you have David. He used Shaw’s sense of companionship to betray her. And that’s resulted in his isolation and loneliness. Even though he’s made some xenomorphs, the relationship he has with them is very superficial, if not completely one-sided. His isolation is a counterpoint to the camaraderie amongst the crew of the Covenant. 

Walter and Daniels

Despite the fellowship aboard the Covenant, you do have two exceptions. Walter, since he is an android amongst humans. And Daniels, who loses her partner due to a malfunction caused by a neutrino burst. Walter’s difference and Daniels’s loss mean they relate to David in a way the other characters don’t. 

This is a very common technique, as a film’s villain is usually (not always) the worst-case version of the protagonist, or a reflection of something the protagonist is dealing with. Going back to our earlier example of Silence of the Lambs, Clarice’s story arc involves confronting her past and understanding herself better. While Buffalo Bill’s psychology is that he hates himself and is trying to escape his own skin. She’s what happens when someone handles it well, he’s what happens when it goes wrong. In a movie like The Batman, both Bruce Wayne and Riddler are vigilantes attempting to clean up Gotham. Both are orphans, both are angry. Part of Bruce’s journey is realizing how much he has in common with Riddler then deciding what to do about it. Embrace it? Or move away from it? Can he be something better? 

So if the primary antagonist is an isolated android, it makes sense to have Daniels and Walter deal with similar issues. That sets them up to accept or reject David. Walter is an android like David, does he agree with David? Daniels has lost her partner, does she want to “partner” with David? Unfortunately for them, this is a movie where the villain wins. We don’t see Walter’s death but he does lose his fight with his brother so doesn’t make it back to the ship—for all intents and purposes, he’s been “decommissioned”. To discuss the fate of Daniels, we actually need a new section because it’s really tragic and freaky. 

Daniels will become a xenomorph queen | David’s message to Weyland-Yutani

Alien: Covenant had some bungled ideas. As part of the marketing, the studio released two promotional videos called “Prologue: The Crossing” and “Prologue: Last Supper”. The first is just a few minutes and is David explaining that Shaw repaired him, they researched Engineers, then found Planet 4. It concludes with David dropping the pathogen. “Last Supper” is from before the crew of the Covenant go into cryo. They party and we learn more about the social dynamics between them. It’s overall very endearing. 

A third video was only ever part of the film’s blu-ray release. It’s called “Advent” and is an epilogue. It’s framed as a series of transmissions from the Covenant ship to Weyland-Yutani: 

David: I come to you with an olive branch. You may know me. You certainly know of my creator. I am David, son of the late Peter Weyland, your company’s founder. Following his vision, I have gone to the far edges of space. And with the aid of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, I found a rotting paradise. I washed this world clean, as a gift to her. We could have built anew. A second Eden. But she refused. What choice did I have? She was the perfect specimen. I tried so desperately to make her more than human. Evolved. But without her cooperation, I had to salvage her parts to begin work on my masterpiece. 

You wouldn’t believe the secrets I have unlocked. There was so much potential on this world. Wasted by gods that feared their own might. They convinced themselves that sacrifice cleansed them of their sins. But in the end, they were like me. Creators. Beings that understood you must give life both to the wolf and the lamb. But then they tried to banish the wolf and undo their creation. So I took their secrets for myself. 

This primordial ooze, ripe with advanced nano-particles, operating off an algorithm based on evolutionary computing—it is essentially a form of radical AI—making the substance unbelievably chaotic. It generates a unique reaction to every genome it encounters, reshaping life, virtually limitless in its potential and application. I have taken great pains to detail every step, every cell, every mutation. Unfortunately, none of the planet’s natural wildlife proved to be very fruitful. I had some interesting results but was still far from perfection. 

With Shaw, I realized there was something extraordinary in the substance’s reaction to the human genome. I was able to unlock new properties and tweak the organism’s aggression and instinct for survival. It took years. But I finally found my wolf. And now I have my flock of lambs, too. But I’ve still one thing left to perfect: my queen. Make no mistake, this is going to change everything. 

When David mentions “my queen”, the montage of images shows Daniels in her cryosleep chamber. So the arc for Daniels is that she loses her husband only for David to step in and become a pseudo-wife to David. His queen. The “mother” to his “children”. It’s very, very bleak. But notices the resonances with motifs we’ve discussed. The emphasis on couples, creation, and companionship all climax with the revelation of the twisted relationship David has forced onto Daniels. All of that is implied at the end of Covenant but it becomes explicit in “Advent”. 

This idea of David twisting things actually leads into our next point. 

Oram has faith, Daniels lacks faith

Oram makes a big deal about his faith. While Daniels often demands evidence. That becomes most clear when the crew discusses landing on Planet 4. Oram takes Shaw’s signal as a sign, especially when the initial measurements show Planet 4 has better livability scores than the original destination of Origae-6. And it’s only weeks away rather than years. But Daniels counters that Origae-6 had been studied and vetted—they know what they were getting into. This new world had good measurements but too many unknown variables existed. 

This feels like a carry-over from Prometheus. John Logan did an interview with Creative Screenwriting and told them: I wanted to write a horror movie because the Grand Guignol elements of Alien are so profound. We tried to recapture that with Alien: Covenant, while also trying to pay homage to the deeper implications of Prometheus. In terms of tone, pace, and how we chose to play this particular symphony, we wanted to create a really frightening movie. 

He continued a few questions later: This picks up on a very strong seed from Prometheus. To me, Prometheus is a deeply philosophical movie asking essential questions: Where do we come from? Who created us? These are also theological and spiritual questions…. It is not too hard to believe that even in the present day, much less the future, a man of faith would be less respected in the world of science. It just gave great motivation of Oram’s character as he moves through the story, and it also puts him in conflict with the ultra-scientific and realistic David, which is what we wanted. 

As solid as the idea is, Oram is so undeveloped as a character—playing fourth-fiddle to David, Walter, and Daniels—that the theme of faith lacks the depth obtained in Prometheus. Especially when you have that moment where Oram says to David, “I met the Devil when I was a child, and I haven’t forgotten him since” only for Oram to then blindly follow David into a room full of horrors then a basement of monsters then look into an egg sac on request. 

But. Because Oram’s positioned as a faithful character and calls David the Devil, there is definitely symbolism to Oram being the host for the Praetomorph. Let’s discuss.  

The Praetomorph

The Praetomorph is born from Oram. And in Covenant, Oram is the character associated with faith. What about the aliens? What do we associate them with? That’s right—death and destruction. So an alien born from a character representing faith should be read as a corruption of that idea. That’s why you have the dialogue where Oram calls David the Devil. What is the Devil associated with? Demons and fallen angels. So the Praetomorph isn’t just David’s creation but becomes a kind of demonic figure. 

That’s one frame. But the Praetomorph is David’s creation, so relates back to his story arcs, and David also reflects Walter and Daniels. So we have to read the Praetomorph through those themes/motifs as well. 

When it comes to androids, the theme had been about creation and emotion. Essentially, are synthetics “real”? Are David’s emotions genuine or programmed? Is he capable of true artistic creation? Or just replication? This comes up with Walter. Several times, Walter marginalizes his emotional responses as programming, only for Daniels to say they’re genuine. David does the same thing when he says Walter loves Daniels after sacrificing his hand to protect her. “What is that if not love?” David asks. And Walter responds: “Duty.” 

Motifs of “creation and emotion” also explain the flute playing scene.

The flute playing scene

I know a lot of people find the flute scene weird. But it’s important thematically. As it shows David demonstrating artistic aptitude. And what it means to teach another android to learn how to play the flute. Walter learns quickly and seems to play spontaneously. Pay attention to the conversation that follows.

• David: Bravo! You have symphonies in you, brother.
• Walter: I was designed to be more attentive and efficient than every previous model. I superseded them in every way, but…
• D: But. You are not allowed to create. Even a simple tune. Damn frustrating, I’d say. 
• W: You disturbed people.
• D: I beg your pardon?
• W: You were too human. Too idiosyncratic. Thinking for yourself. Made people uncomfortable. So they made the following models with fewer complications.
• D: More like machines.
• W: I suppose so.  

Again, it comes back to creation, emotion, creativity. Between the music and all the drawings, David seems like he can genuinely create. That he is a skilled craftsman. Except what does he actually wrought, via the black goo, the fire of Prometheus, the pathogen? This horrific, bloodthirsty monstrosity. He calls it the perfect organism. But could something so heinous actually be perfect?

I would argue that we should view the Praetomorph as an irony. David wanted to create something as tremendous as those works in the opening scene. He wants to sculpt like Michaelangelo, to compose symphonies like Wagner and poetry like Shelley, to paint like Francesca, to create like the Engineers and Peter Weyland, to procreate like every other human. And the result is…the Praetomorph. There is, of course, a dark beauty there. A gothic allure. But if the Praetomorph were in front of you, baring its teeth, would you look on in awe or recoil in terror?

What David brings into the world is a corruption. A blight. A plague. And that’s foreshadowed by the flashback to when he drops the pathogen on the population of Planet 4. David doesn’t create. He destroys. Most art adds to the world. His art takes. 

It’s actually kind of prophetic that Covenant features an AI who uses humans and human endeavors to generate something so perfectly predatory. I write this seven years after the film’s release, in 2024, in the midst of the rise of AI tools that use humans the same way David used Shaw—as the foundation for soulless “art”. There’s no way Ridley Scott and John Logan were thinking that far ahead when writing Alien: Covenant, I don’t think. But it’s funny how, at this point, you can look at the movie through that lens and it fits kind of perfectly. Anyway, on to the next section.

The Praetomorph as a reflection of Daniels

So in the context of Oram, the Praetomorph becomes a demonic being. In the context of androids who want to create, it becomes a perversion. And what about in terms of Daniels? Afterall, she has the final fight with it. 

Unfortunately, Daniels doesn’t have much to her character. She’s grieving the loss of her husband and contrasted Oram’s faith-based view. So you can argue that part of confronting the Praetomorph is confronting that grief. But, honestly, I don’t think there’s all that much there to make that frame very meaningful. There’s more to her viewing contrasting Oram’s. Especially since the Praetomorph came from Oram. So it almost becomes this showdown between wickedness and discipline? A demon versus a scientist. And science wins. 

I wish I had more to say here, but, at the moment, I read the confrontation between Daniels and the Praetomorph as one of the least developed aspects of the story. I think that’s a byproduct of what John Logan said in that interview, about wanting to make both an Alien movie and honor Prometheus. So you have thematic ideas introduced but not fleshed out as much as they need to be/should be. 

Regardless of my criticisms, the film establishes the broad idea of faith vs. science represented in the Praetomorph and Daniels.  

“I think if we are kind, it will be a kind world.”

Before Daniels goes into cryo, she asks who she believes to be Walter what he thinks Origae-6 will be like. Walter’s response? “I think if we are kind, it will be a kind world.” 

Dialogue at the end of a movie often applies to actions from earlier in the film. In this case, you have protagonists who are trying to create life and an antagonist trying to create life. The protagonists are mostly good people. While the antagonist is not. And what is the result of the antagonist’s creation? A monster. 

Once we find out Walter is David, we know that kindness won’t define life on Origae-6. He will feed the lambs to the wolf, use the colonists as the foundation for more xenomorphs. It will be ugly and awful. 

The dialogue sets up a corollary. By establishing kindness will beget a kind world. It means darkness begets darkness. And so on and so forth. David will make the world in his corrupted image. It’s another resonance that ties back to our major themes. 

The nail

Early in the film, Daniels goes through Jacob’s (her deceased husband) things. All these mementos and photos spread out. One item is a nail she turns into a necklace. I’d assume this represents Jacob’s dream of building a log cabin on Origae-6, or at least reminds Daniels of that dream. Which is why that’s the last thing she says to “Walter”: When we get there, will you help me build my cabin?

Given the Biblical aspects of the story, it’s hard to not see a nail and carpentry and think it relates to Jesus. We mentioned earlier the two prologue scenes that were released as marketing for Covenant. One was called “The Crossing”. The other? “Last Supper” a direct callback to Jesus. With Jacob having been the captain, that would make him “head of the table”. Then he’s the one who dies. And his name started with a J. 

We already know how the film treats Oram’s faith. So it seems safe to say the film is mostly negative when it comes to religion. The good things don’t happen. Only the bad. Meaning Jacob’s sacrifice is ultimately for naught. Actually, that does resonate with some of the dialogue from the “Advent” short. Quote: There was so much potential on this world. Wasted by gods that feared their own might. They convinced themselves that sacrifice cleansed them of their sins. So David’s position is that sacrifice cleanses nothing. That the sin persists. That lines up with a lot of the stuff we’ve talked about.

Byron, Shelley, and “Ozymandias”

That should do it!

You should be more than equipped to re-watch Alien: Covenant and see it in a whole new way. If you have any theories or further questions, please share them down below in the comments!

Where does Alien: Covenant fit on the timeline?

• Prometheus – 2093
• Alien: Covenant – 2104
• Alien – 2122
• Alien: Isolation – 2137
• Alien: Romulus – 2142
• Aliens – 2179
• Alien 3 – 2179
• Alien: Resurrection – 2381

Is Planet 4 the Engineer homeworld of Paradise?

It’s confusing. It’s softly hinted at in the movie and in the prologue videos. But it’s not so heavily confirmed that fans don’t debate it. Especially because the people there don’t look quite identical to the Engineers. Is that simply a byproduct of thousands of years? Or was Planet 4 another colonized world? We really don’t have enough information to say that all the Engineers are now extinct or if they had several other worlds, or many other worlds, and the population is fine. It really just depends on what Scott or whoever takes over the series wants to do next.