alien covenant the official movie novelization

Foster must have predicted the audience complaints about the crew walking around the planet without helmets, with the book having Walter go outside first and breathe in the air for analysis. The book makes a noble attempt to plaster over a few logical issues with the script. This suggests David may have been on to something about Walter’s feelings for his crewmate. There’s a short moment midway through the story where he brushes some hair off her face while she sleeps, just because it makes him feel good. Walter’s relationship with Daniels is one of the most intriguing elements, with heavy suggestions the synthetic is developing emotions for her, even if he doesn’t understand them. The early chapters onboard The Covenant help flesh out the supporting characters too, many of whom are ill-defined in the movie and sort of merge together.

The book also contains hints Earth itself is in bad shape, which has hastened the decision to colonize other planets. While it’s a short scene it helps show the bond between husband and wife, helping give some context to Daniels’ grief and her obsession with the cabin. They are in a futuristic apartment overlooking a snowy city, while her husband Branson shows her a 3D map of the log cabin he plans to build on Origae-6. The first major addition is a moment near the beginning where Daniels dreams of her husband while in cryosleep, which is a sequence director Ridley Scott has mentioned in previous interviews. His take on Alien: Covenantis ultimately quite close to the movie, but given that it was written before the final edit it contains numerous deleted and extended scenes, alongside a few original touches the author brings to the story.

Foster is a veteran writer with a long history of original sci-fi and fantasy books, in addition to novelizations like The Thing and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

For long-time fans, the announcement that author Alan Dean Foster was returning to pen the Covenant novelization was news worth celebrating, with his adaptations of the first three movies becoming cult items of their own.

Alien covenant the official movie novelization