When last we saw Noomi Rapace’s Prometheus character, Elizabeth Shaw, she was jetting off to the stars in search of humanity’s malevolent creators, accompanied only by the detached head of morally ambiguous android David (Michael Fassbender). But while Fassbender (in the form of a new android, Walter) has been prominent in the marketing for Ridley Scott’s latest Alien movie, Covenant, there’s been no sign of Rapace or Shaw, with Katherine Waterston taking over the new movie’s heroine duties.
Now, Scott has offered up a few hints of what role Rapace’s character will hold in Covenant. When asked by Fandango whether Shaw would appear in the new film—scheduled to premiere May 19—Scott confirmed, “Yes, in a way. Not fully, but in a way. She was integral to what David carried out later.” We’re not sure exactly how to parse that, but given all the uses the human body has in the Alien franchise—and David’s morals-loose approach to human experimentation—it doesn’t necessarily sound good.
That wasn’t the only tidbit the director revealed about his long-term Alien plans, either. He also elaborated on the other script he’s already written, dropping the name Awakening in connection with it. Talking timelines, he apparently mentioned that this latest film would slot in somewhere between Prometheus and Covenant in the overall chronology, a revelation that makes us wonder if it won’t explain what David and Elizabeth were doing in the intervening years (besides playing the universe’s longest game of interstellar “I Spy”).