In the months since Alien: Romulus revived interest in the iconic sci-fi franchise, Ridley Scott’s divisive prequels, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, are getting re-appraised. Informally known as the “David Saga,” Scott’s prequels introduced a grimly cynical origin story for the Xenomorphs, reshaping them into products of humanity’s creators and the android David (Michael Fassbender).
The prequels were received poorly by audiences and critics, who weren’t ready for the sci-fi thriller franchise to be reconceived as a bleak tale about how God hates us. But with Romulus bringing the franchise back to basics, there’s a newfound readiness for Scott to complete the “David Trilogy.” Among those clamoring for a new Alien movie from Scott is the star of Alien: Covenant herself, Katherine Waterston.
“Keep David coming. [He’s] just this amazing character,” Waterston tells Inverse.
Waterston calling David an amazing character feels ironic since her character in Convenant, Daniels, had a pretty bad time when she and the crew of her colony ship met David on a dead planet. They quickly discover that David had been experimenting with the Xenomorph pathogen on his fellow Prometheus survivor, Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), and that he intends to eliminate humanity with his creations. With the help of the Covenant’s good android, Walter (also Fassbender, but with an American accent), Daniels appears to escape. But as she returns to her stasis pod, Walter reveals himself to actually be David, now intending to use the thousands of colonists and embryos on the ship for his sinister experiments.
But Waterston, speaking to Inverse at a junket for her new Showtime spy series The Agency, which reunites her with Fassbender, reveals that she has a more hopeful reading of the ending. “I like to think that Daniels made it out of the pod, but I'm not sure,” she says.
So, would Waterston be open to returning to the Alien franchise, provided Daniels did survive David’s coup?
“I just love that world. And Ridley is a dream,” Waterston says. “He's an incredible person and a great collaborator. I'd personally love to work with him again, but even if I wasn't involved, I'd just love to go to the cinema and watch it.”
For now, she’s just glad that people are coming around to Covenant, and the David Saga as a whole. “I really felt that with Covenant, that just with every passing year there seemed to be more people that are attached to it, and they come up to me to talk to me about it,” Waterston says. “And I, as a fan, feel the exact same way.”
