



Alien: Covenant is a 2017 novelization of the film of the same name, written by Alan Dean Foster and published by Titan Books. It was released on May 23, 2017.[1]

As well as standard print editions, the novel was released simultaneously in audiobook format, read by actor Tom Taylorson and published by Blackstone Audio.

Foster also wrote Alien: Covenant - Origins, an official prequel set before the film.

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Publisher's Summary

Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created, with Alien: Covenant, a new chapter in his groundbreaking Alien adventure. The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise. But it is actually a dark, dangerous world.

When they uncover a threat beyond their imaginations, they must attempts a harrowing escape.

Differences from the Film

Notable differences between the novel and the film include:

The opening scene between Weyland and David is extended; David additionally notes a spider's web in the room where he activates.[2] As David plays "Entry of the Gods into Valhalla" on the piano, he recounts the story of Wagner's accompanying musical drama, finally labelling the deities in the story "false gods".[3] Much of this additional dialogue was filmed but deleted from the movie.

Following David's activation, a new scene shows Daniels and Branson in their apartment, where Branson discusses some changes he has made to the plans for their log cabin on Origae-6.[4] The scene is ultimately revealed to be a flashback/dream that Daniels is having while in hypersleep aboard the Covenant. The sequence was filmed for the movie but not used.

When Walter checks the embryos in storage aboard the Covenant, they are all healthy in the novel, whereas in the film one of the embryos has failed, leading Walter to remove it for disposal.[5]

Before the neutrino burst hits the Covenant, Walter additionally visits the ship's hydroponics lab to check on the various flora being grown there.[6] This scene was filmed but not used in the movie.

In the film, Cole and Ankor attempt to pry Branson out of his malfunctioning cryo pod before he is killed; in the book, it is Lopé and Tennessee who attempt to save him.[7]

After the post-disaster meeting on the bridge concludes, Oram takes Daniels to one side to offer her his condolences and pay his respects to Branson. He then orders her to take several days off to deal with her grief, much to her consternation.[8] This scene was filmed but not used.

Oram carries a pair of metal worry beads that he frequently fiddles with when stressed.[8]

Tennessee and Ankor start making their repairs outside the ship much earlier in the book, before Branson's funeral, and these repairs generally seem to be much more extensive than in the film — for instance, it takes two space walks to complete the work rather than just the one as in the movie.[9] Only on the second trip out does Tennessee intercept the transmission.

Daniels does not watch the video of Branson climbing while grieving in her quarters, but she does glance at their climbing gear stored in a cupboard, brought along so they could climb on Origae-6.[10]

Following this, Daniels is visited by Walter in her quarters, and he presents her with a gift of several joints that he has rolled using cannabis grown in the hydroponics bay, suggesting it will help calm her. Learning that Daniels simply wishes to get back to work as part of her grieving process, Walter suggests she check the equipment in the terraforming bay, pointing out that there are no security cameras in there and so Oram will not discover she has disobeyed his orders.[11] This scene was shot but deleted from the final cut of the film.

The equipment in the terraforming bay is all secure when Daniels and Walter check it, whereas in the film some of it has come loose and they have to tighten the restraints to secure it.[12]

Branson's body is ejected in a coffin in the book, whereas it is simply wrapped in a shroud in the film.[13] The "funeral" itself is slightly longer, with Walter offering to perform a service in any of the many denominations for which he is programmed. This additional dialogue was shot but not used in the film.[13]

When discussing his nascent captaincy with his wife Karine, Oram does not talk about how his religion means he is viewed negatively by Weyland-Yutani. After she leaves, he prays alone on the bridge.[14]

Following Branson's funeral, Daniels gets drunk alone in her cabin, listening to Nat King Cole on Branson's antique record player.[15] Only now does she view the climbing video, seen earlier in the film. Having done so, she packs away all of Branson's belongings for disposal or storage.[16]

While watching Shaw's garbled transmission on the bridge, Oram likens the indecipherable screeching to his memories of people "speaking in tongues" during services as part of his strict Pentecostal upbringing. Inspired by this, he has Mother reverse the audio, and only then is the tune hidden within the signal revealed.[17]

The conversation between Daniels and Oram where Daniels voices her concerns over their change of course does not happen while they are alone, but on the bridge (albeit still out of earshot of the rest of the crew).[18]

As the Covenant approaches Planet 4, Upworth still receives Shaw's transmission. Tennessee forebodingly likens it to the song of the sirens in Homer's Odyssey, luring sailors to their doom.[19]

During the descent in Lander One, Walter sits with Faris and Oram in the cockpit;[20] in the film he rides in the cabin with the rest of the ground team. During the rough descent, Oram loses one of his worry beads and it begins rolling around the cabin.[21]

After landing, the crew remain aboard Lander One while Walter heads out alone to sample the atmosphere. Only after he determines that it is safe do the crew disembark, much to their celebration.[22] A similar scene was filmed and would have helped justify the crew's lack of protective gear when setting foot on Planet 4, but it was not included in the final cut.

The lunar rover seen in the film does not appear in the book.[23]

When the team discovers the felled trees, Ankor suggests they may have been brought down by an asteroid, but Daniels points out such an impact would leave a huge crater.[24]

The Neomorph egg sacks are considerably smaller in the novel, resembling surface mould as opposed to their larger, more fungus-like appearance in the film.[25]

The downed Juggernaut is shrouded in fog, meaning the team does not see it until they are directly underneath it.[26] The crew enters the vessel through an aperture in the side (just like the Nostromo crew in Alien), whereas in the film they climb inside through the opening in the vessel's base from which we later learn David launched the black liquid.[27]

The team's weapons have red laser sights in the book, whereas they are green in the film.[28]

The team makes several additional discoveries whilst inside the Juggernaut. Soon after entering, they find numerous Steatite Ampules, some of which are smashed and have Neomorph mold formed around them.[29] Later, Daniels locates Shaw's appropriated living quarters aboard the ship. Instead of finding the doctor's dog tags hanging from a hook, she discovers Shaw's crucifix. Without the dog tags to reveal her identify, Daniels discovers Shaw's name written on a stack of rotting paper on a desk.[30]

As his infection begins to manifest itself, Ledward bleeds from his tear duct.[31] Karine then reports this to Faris over the radio, thus fixing the goof in the film whereby Faris informs the Covenant that Ledward is bleeding despite no one ever telling her this.

Before assisting Karine and Ledward, Faris dons a surgical mask.[32] Faris is generally much more concerned about possible contamination, insisting Karine and Ledward refrain from touching anything inside Lander One and later telling Karine to put on surgical gloves.[33]

The scene where the Neomorph is born from Ledward features several differences compared to the film. Rather than immediately seating him on the operating table, Faris and Karine instead strip him while he stands before making him lie face-down and attempting to restrain him with straps.[33] As the infection reaches its crescendo, Ledward begins bleeding from his pores. He is still lying on the table when the Bloodburster erupts from his back, not sitting upright as in the movie.[34] Karine wets herself in response to witnessing the Neomorph's birth.[35] The Neomorph's growth rate is also much faster, such that it becomes visibly larger even during the time it is attacking Karine and running amok inside Lander One.[35]

Faris does not lose her shotgun when she slips on the blood inside the med bay, nor does she shut her leg in the med bay door as she tries to flee. Instead, the Neomorph manages to get an arm through the gap and block the closing door, and Faris uses her shotgun to bludgeon the creature's arm back inside the room, losing the weapon in the process.[36]

The Neomorph born from Hallett is bipedal from birth, whereas in the film both creatures are quadrupedal in infancy.[37]

Walter does not lose his hand in the Neomorph attack, although his arm is superficially mauled.[38]

In the film Ankor dies when the Neomorph swipes off his jaw; in the book the creature pierces the top of his skull with its tail.[39]

During the chaos in the wheat field, Rosie accidentally shoots Cole in the shoulder.[39] In the film, the two Neomorphs attack individually one after the other, but in the novel both creatures assault the survivors at the same time. During the chaos, Daniels grabs Ankor's fallen rifle to join in the firefight. Perhaps most notably, neither of the creatures is killed during this sequence in the book;[40] both survive to reappear later.

After David's appearance, Cole in particular is openly wary of his presence and repeatedly questions whether the survivors should trust him.[40]

As the group follows David, they are shadowed by the elder of the two Neomorphs, although it does not attack; Daniels guesses it is simply assessing them, biding its time.[41] In the film the Neomorph is not seen again until it arrives at the citadel later on.

The group start finding Engineer bodies before they enter the city, including hundreds strewn on a hillside outside the settlement.[42] There is no grand, pillared entrance through which the crew pass like in the film, and instead they just walk into the city's streets.

Aware that the Neomorph is still following them into the city, Lopé and Rosie turn and fire at the creature, causing it to retreat.[42] However, it returns when they reach the citadel, finally charging the group as they reach the entrance. The survivors are able to get inside and seal the door before it reaches them.[43]

David explains that the Engineers disabled the other ships on the planet when the black liquid was unleashed in order to stop the mutagen spreading off-world.[44] This is why he has not been able to take another ship and leave.

There is a well in the room where the group rests, and David brings up water for them to drink.[45]

In the film, Mother tells Tennessee that 80km is the safe limit for the Covenant to orbit above the storm, but in the book Tennessee calculates this distance himself.[46]

Inside the temple, Walter discovers Shaw's living quarters.[47]

As well as his long, scraggly hair, David also has a beard in the book.[48]

When Tennessee requires Upworth's consensus to reduce the Covenant's orbit further, they additionally have to enter codes at secure consoles on opposite sides of the bridge to override Mother's safety limits.[49]

The Neomorph enters the temple through a secret entrance in the side instead of scaling the outer wall.[50]

The flashback to David's arrival on Planet 4, in which he is shown unleashing the black liquid on the Engineers, does not occur in the book.[51] Thus his actions are not revealed until Walter confronts him later in the story.

Rather than burying her in a garden, David places Shaw's ashes in a vase he has made himself. Alongside the urn are several of Shaw's effects, including a hairbrush, a fragment of her uniform, her ID tags, a photograph of her and a lock of her hair.[52]

After teaching him how to play the flute, David gives the instrument to Walter and instructs him to go and compose an original tune himself.[53]

Instead of simply going to wash, Rosie discovers a myriad of hash marks carved into the temple wall by David (apparently denoting the number of days he has been on the planet) and follows them away from the rest of the group.[54]

There is a scene of extended dialogue as Daniels and Oram rest in the temple. Daniels points out to the captain that their discoveries on the planet at least mean the surviving relatives of the Prometheus crew will get closure regarding the fate of their loved ones.[55] Walter joins them, reporting back on David's behavior, suggesting that the android may be losing his mind as a result of being stranded alone for so long on the planet.[56] Some of the additional dialogue was filmed but not used in the movie.

After Oram goes to look for Rosie, Walter begins trying to compose a tune on the flute but struggles due to his programming, which denies him the ability to be creative. Daniels suggests he attempt to learn by trial and error, something that he is capable of doing, and Walter succeeds in performing an original melody.[57] Daniels is impressed, but Walter considers the piece a poor effort. As he continues practising, Daniels falls asleep.[58]

When the Neomorph attacks Rosie, it throws her against the wall, breaking her back and paralyzing her, instead of immediately decapitating her. It then slowly approaches her as she lies helpless on the floor, finally lunging in to kill her with its jaws when it is standing over her (although she is never shown being beheaded and her exact cause of death is left unrevealed).[59]

The lower levels of the temple, where David's lab is located, appear more like the interior of and Engineer ship than in the film, with twisted, organic surfaces.[60]

The scene where David shows off his lab is longer and contains some notable differences compared to the film. At the beginning of the scene, Oram voices his prejudice against synthetics, stating his opinion that androids should not possess the kind of creativity and personality that David does, and should be more like machines. David retorts that humanity, with all its free will and perceived superiority, is incapable of collaborating and devotes most of its energy to destroying itself.[61] Shortly thereafter, David tosses a harmless, fossilized sample of Neomorph egg sacks to Oram, noting with amusement the captain's fearful reaction to the now inert pathogen. Among the dead specimens in the lab are several adult Xenomorphs, alongside the deformed Neomorph remains.[62] Finally, David shows Oram a fossilized Ovomorph and the dead Facehugger within, pointing out that they are an Engineer creation, created long before he arrived on the planet — contradicting the film, which strongly implies David is the Xenomorph's creator. David goes on to express a desire to play God, stating that he wishes to engineer a similarly "perfect" lifeform himself.[63]

Before they descend into the catacombs, David gives Oram an ointment to spread beneath his nostrils to counteract the foul smell below. As well as masking the smell, it also acts as a mild narcotic, inducing a palpable feeling of well-being,[64] perhaps explaining why Oram is so trusting of David in the Egg room below. This scene was filmed but not used.

While trying to convince Oram that the Eggs in the catacombs pose no threat, David leans over one of the ovoids to prove that it does not react.[65] This was filmed but deleted from the movie.

Oram manages to fire a single shot as he is assaulted by the Facehugger, but it goes wide and hits neither the creature nor David.[65]

Walter and Daniel's relationship appears more intimate in the novel, implying multiple times that Walter possesses genuine affection for his comrade. His subsequent analysis of this implies that, despite his supposedly more restrictive programming than David, he may still be capable of developing emotions.[66]

Tennessee is on the bridge when he receives word that his wife has died (albeit over a private channel that Ricks and Upworth cannot hear).[67] In the film he goes into the corridor outside to take the news.

The Chestburster that emerges from Oram is initially worm-like, similar to the original in Alien, but it rapidly develops arms, legs and a distinct head as David watches. David whistles to the infant creature, and becomes emotional when it apparently attempts to respond, despite being incapable of actually whistling.[68] Much like the Neomorphs, it grows visibly larger even in the short time David is watching it.

The Praetomorph born from Oram is described as being "biomechanoid" and having "an exoskeleton like black metal", clearly much more akin to the original Alien, as opposed to its fleshier, more organic appearance in the film.[69][70]

Tennessee and Upworth are seen preparing the cargo lift for the rescue mission to the planet's surface.[71]

Walter confronts David on the roof near Shaw's resting place, not in David's lab as in the film.[72] As a result, he does not find Shaw's mutilated corpse. David stabs Walter with his finger rather than using the flute.[73]

In the film, it is not entirely clear why Daniels goes to look at the drawings in David's quarters. In the book, she is filling the team's water bottles in the room where Rosie was killed when she notices an antechamber hidden behind a curtain, and when she investigates she discovers David's study.[74]

After finding Oram's body, Cole notices movement in one of the Eggs in the chamber. As he investigates, the top opens and he peers inside, leading the reader to believe he too will be impregnated. However, he manages to react as the Facehugger leaps out, blocking it with his hand (not his rifle as in the film).[75] In the film, the Egg from which the Facehugger comes is already open when he enters the chamber.

When the Facehugger attacks Lopé, the Sergeant manages to get his arm between his face and the Facehugger, stopping it from getting its ovipositor down his throat.[76]

The Praetomorph that kills Cole does not leap on him from above as in the film, but stealthily creeps up behind him.[70]

Instead of stabbing David under the chin with the old nail, Daniels stabs it into his eye. However, David also possesses an ability to self-repair in the book and the damage is quickly fixed.[77]

The damage caused to Lopé's face from the Facehugger's acid is much more severe in the book — almost half of his face is melted, and his throat is also damaged, affecting his breathing.[78]

After Daniels and Lopé flee the temple, the surviving Neomorph returns, leading to an extended action sequence outside the temple. As they await the cargo lift, the creature charges Daniels and Lopé, who fire at it, only for the Neomorph to nimbly dodge their shots. When Daniels runs out of ammunition, she activates the extendable bayonet on her rifle and prepares to make a futile last stand.[79] The Praetomorph born from Oram then arrives, and the two alien creatures engage in a brawl as Daniels and Lopé run to the ship; the Praetomorph quickly disembowels the Neomorph, killing it. The Praetomorph then goes after the survivors, catching Lopé as Daniels tries to lift him aboard the cargo lift, pulling him back to the ground and further wounding him with its talons.[80] Desperate, Daniels attacks the creature with the bayonet, spilling its acid blood, a few specks of which burn her cheek. At that moment David (posing as Walter) arrives and shoots the Praetomorph, apparently killing it. The trio board the cargo lift, but the Praetomorph rises, merely wounded, and then jumps aboard the departing craft as in the film.[81]

Before Daniels fights the Praetomorph aboard the cargo lift, "Walter" informs her that David is not in fact dead and will likely be repairing himself inside the temple.[81]

After crushing the Praetomorph in the crane jaws, Daniels gets acid on her jacket and is forced to strip it off and discard it.[82]

Back aboard the Covenant, "Walter" joins Daniels in watching the surgery on Lopé, and two discuss David's genocide of the Engineers; "Walter" is very matter-of-fact and largely justifies the slaughter, pointing out that the Engineers were arrogant and hostile. When Daniels asks him if he would feel the same about humans, "Walter" responds that humans have not developed such intrinsic cultural arrogance "so far".[83] Daniels goes on to muse the possibility of other intelligent alien life, hoping that it will be more receptive to other sentient species.

Mother activates an alarm to notify Ricks and Upworth that they are in danger, which includes flashing red lights and a klaxon.[84] Unlike in the film, where they remain oblivious to the presence of the Praetomorph until it kills them, they realize in advance that something is wrong, but are still killed before they can act. When Daniels and Tennessee find their corpses, they have been completely dismembered.[85]

The manner in which the Praetomorph is finally expelled is slightly different — in the film Daniels presents herself as bait to lure the creature onto the forks on the front of the slow-moving excavator, but in the novel the excavator is instead ejected at such speed that she simply has to dive out of the way before it ploughs into the Alien.[86] After the vehicles have been ejected into space, they deploy their emergency parachutes.[87]

Daniels does not realize that "Walter" is in fact David before going into hypersleep.[88] This alternate version of the film's conclusion was filmed but not used.

David contacts Weyland-Yutani on Earth using his own name and access code, thereby specifically revealing his deception to the company.[88] In the film, he sends out his situation report under the guise of "Walter". Instead of regurgitating two small Facehugger embryos and placing them in the embryo storage tray, David opens to tray to find three tiny Praetomorph Eggs that he had placed there some time previously.[89]

Audiobook

Simultaneous with the physical release, Blackstone Audio produced an unabridged audiobook of Alan Dean Foster's novelization, read by actor Tom Taylorson. The audiobook runs for 8 hours.

Trivia

At 338 pages of actual story text, Alien: Covenant is the longest of the Alien franchise novelizations.

is the longest of the franchise novelizations. Alien: Covenant marks Alan Dean Foster's first involvement in the Alien franchise in 25 years, having previously written the novelizations of Alien , Aliens and Alien 3 .

marks Alan Dean Foster's first involvement in the franchise in 25 years, having previously written the novelizations of , and . The book is also the first English-language novelization in the Alien / Predator / Alien vs. Predator franchise since Alien vs. Predator by Marc Cerasini. While Prometheus had a novelization as well, it was only published in Japan.

/ / franchise since by Marc Cerasini. While had a novelization as well, it was only published in Japan. Each of Alan Dean Foster's novelizations for the Alien franchise begins with a section discussing dreams. With the exception of Alien3, they also all conclude with a mention of dreams (by the conclusion of Alien3, all of the main characters are dead and thus there is no one left to dream).

Goofs

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References