Video: Katherine Waterston talks Alien: Covenant
This spring, Ridley Scott revives his groundbreaking Alien franchise with his return in Alien: Covenant. A sequel to the prequel Prometheus, the hotly-anticipated sci-fi/thriller has Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) following in the footsteps of Sigourney Weaver and Noomi Rapace as the latest heroine to face off against some extraterrestrial and definitively deadly creatures. We sat down with Katherine Waterston and delved for more details on the closely-guarded secrets of Alien: Covenant, including the ship’s mission, Ridley’s latest monster, and how the cast was called upon to interact with it. We also inquired about her thoughts on female representation in film, and asked about the pressure of being “the new Ripley.” Check it out in the player below!
When ComingSoon.net attended the Fox Showcase earlier this month, only Alien: Covenant‘s poster had been revealed to the public. But those gathered got to preview two sequences from the next chapter of the Alien series, along with its ferocious trailer. The first clip swiftly introduced the sprawling civilian crew of Covenant, the titular spacecraft that’s carrying cryosleeping colonists to some far off locale. In the scene, the crew is setting down to investigate a curious planet, offering the audience a rough idea of the friendly-working relationship that allows the team to exchange sexually-charged banter (“sweet t*ts” and “sugar d*ck”) and jokes as they carry out their work. As the turbulence rattles one male member, he laments, “I hate space.” To which the brawny man at his side teases with a broad grin, “This is why you need to do yoga.”
The second scene unveils a scenario with which Alien fans are well familiar. On the aforementioned planet, a male crewmember has been struck ill, so he is dragged back to the ship’s infirmary by two female crewmates. You can probably guess what happens next. Flashes of this scene make their way into the first trailer, teasing the claustrophobia, the terror, and the rise of a new monster: the neomorph. Bursting forth from the body of his host in a violent spray of blood, this sharp-toothed and lighting-fast beast is bright white yet bares a family resemblance to the iconic xenomorph.
Katherine Waterston got little screen time in these teases, but speaking with host Dave Karger, she said her character, Daniels, “has really good instincts, and she has a concern, about where they are going on that ship… She’s questioning leadership there a little too, I think.” Speaking to the heroine’s requisite bravery and resilience, the leading lady mused, “it’s one of those things, you always wonder, what kind of person you would be in an extreme crisis. Will you be a coward, or will you be courageous. And I think she’s just one of those people, who, if her kids were in a car that was on fire, she’d be able to lift up a car. You hear those stories about people doing extraordinary things, so, yeah. It’s like that.”
20th Century Fox will release Alien: Covenant in theaters on May 19, 2017.