During a recent interview with BBC Radio 2, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant star Michael Fassbender told a story about the first time he saw the original Alien. That on its own isn’t especially interesting, but what is interesting is that Fassbender referred to the monster in the movie as a “Neomorph,” not a Xenomorph—the official name for the thing. This has caused people to theorize that the monsters in the upcoming Alien: Covenant will be called Neomorphs, setting them apart from the traditional Xenomorphs we know and love. However, they don’t generally call the things Xenomorphs in the movies and Fassbender is far too handsome to spend time obsessing over the details of the Alien expanded universe (even if he is part of it), so there’s a very good chance he was just confused.
That being said, the hardcore fans at Aliens Vs. Predator Galaxy believe that there is more to it than that. Based on some supposed reports direct from the set of Covenant, that site does believe that Neomorph is the name for the movie’s new monster. Plus, it even has some details about how these guys will differ from both the classic Xeno and the Deacon creature seen in Prometheus. Supposedly, they’ll show up on a planet full of little pods that grow on trees and on the ground, and when an unsuspecting human disturbs the pods, they’ll release a toxic spore that the human hosts breathe in. This spore eventually turns into a baby Neomorph, but instead of popping out of the chest like Xenos do, they’ll burst out of an unlucky human’s back or neck.
None of these details are confirmed, but the Neomorphs will reportedly be mostly white and a little translucent, with “small dorsal spikes” and a tail. They’ll move on all fours at first, but they’ll begin to walk on their hind legs as they get older and bigger. Basically, assuming they’re real, it sounds like the Neomorphs will look like white Xenos with fewer pointy bits.