In Sequels No One Can Hear You Scream: 'Alien: Covenant' Gets First Poster

Something is scuttling in the air vents, so get out your flamethrower, #AlienCovenant is coming, and it is sooner than expected!

The Ridley Scott outer space adventure just dropped its first poster, and it is a dark reminder of the director's precedence in the #horror genre. With 2012's #Prometheus dividing critics, it looks like sequel Alien: Covenant will be returning to the roots of the original Alien films. A stark poster in the darkness features the notorious xenomorph alien front and center.

There is also some chestbursting news that Covenant has been been bumped from its October 2017 release to May next year. That gives us a whole three months less to prepare for the incoming onslaught of xenomorphs and tool up for the fight, but we are spitting acid with excitement.

The Root Of Horror

Scott's 1979 Alien — which made a legend of Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley — was immortalized by the tagline, "In space, no one can hear you scream." However, it looks like 2017 will bring a rather more simplified version of horror with the tagline "Run," so clearly it won't be long until the crew of colony ship Covenant will be facing off against the extraterrestrial menace. Hopefully "run" implies that we will be back to the fast-paced tension of Alien, rather than Charlize Theron running away from falling space debris in Prometheus.

It has been confirmed that Michael Fassbender will be back as android David, the "sole" survivor of doomed spaceship Prometheus, and will also be playing the dual role of Covenant android Walter. Fans of Prometheus will remember that the film ended with Noomi Rapace's Elizabeth Shaw flying off planet with David in tow, so we aren't sure how she will fit into Covenant — especially with emphasis on David being the sole survivor.

The returnees will be joined by Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, Demian Bichir, Jussie Smollett, Carmen Ejogo, Billy Crudup and Amy Seimetz in Scott's second of a planned trilogy. The updated release date means that Covenant will now open against Annabelle 2 and the Baywatch reboot, so Covenant is sure to not be the only "horror" to come out of cinema next May — I mean, c'mon, Hoff in speedos.

Serving as a prequel to the Alien franchise, if all goes to plan, Covenant and the untitled Prometheus 3 will lead up to the events of Ripley and the crew of the Nostromo in 1979's film. If anyone can tie together five films and 38 years of aliens, it is Ridley Scott.