Alien: Covenant - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[melinda]

Moments after his birth, when prompted by Weyland to choose a piece of music to play in the piano, David chooses a piece from Wagner's opera Das Rheingold, which is about a dwarf who forsakes love in order to steal the source of ultimate power, and uses it to forge something that eventually causes the downfall of the gods themselves. Over the course of the movie it is shown that David set aside his "love" for Shaw in order to steal the secrets of the Engineers and create the perfect life form. This choice also results in the utter destruction of the Engineers, the "gods" who created life of Earth. David also shows dissatisfaction with being given orders by Weyland, hinting at his ultimate hatred and rejection of humanity.

[nora]

David's garden is an exact recreation of the Arnold Böcklin painting The Isle of the Dead (which H. R. Giger also painted a version of in his biomechanical style).

[duane]

Ridley Scott stated, "I looked at Danny [McBride] and flashed on Slim Pickens," he says, adding that the character's appearance is a nod to Stanley Kubrick's use of Pickens in Dr. Strangelove.

[maureen]

The novel mentions Oram having dreamt about meeting God while he was unconscious due to the facehugger. Facehugger victims commonly seem to have strange dreams or nightmares with both Kane (in Alien (1979)) and Purvis (in Alien Resurrection (1997)) mentioning the bad dreams they had.

[elmer]

It's possible that the Xenomorph born from Oram had deliberately spared Lopé and instead killed Cole, since it may have sensed that Lopé was a host to a Chestburster.

[willard]

A deleted scene shows the crew relaxing and having fun before they go off for cryosleep. Branson talks about feeling ill, like he is "burning up," foreshadowing his fate.

[alyssa]

In Prometheus, David showed almost no sympathy or concern for Shaw when her pregnancy was discovered. His main interest was in the fetus, and he was willing to force her to stay pregnant (admittedly in cryo) so that he could keep the fetus and study it. It foreshadows her eventual fate at his hands, and that no matter his feelings for her, David will place his own scientific interests over Shaw's well-being.

[tom]

The terrace surrounded by cypress trees, where David looks upon the Engineers' city, was inspired by the series of paintings depicting the "Isle of the Dead" by 19th-century artist Arnold Böcklin. This was also a nod to Alien (1979) creator H.R. Giger, who had crafted his interpretation of the same paintings in his trademark bio-mechanical style, as a tribute to fellow Swiss Böcklin.

[alyssa]

The poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley is discussed extensively by characters in both this and Billy Crudup's earlier movie Watchmen (2009).

[ruby]

The date of the mission, listed at the beginning of the film, is December 5th, which is also the birthday of Walt Disney (aka Walter Elias Disney). The synthetic in this film is named Walter (after director Walter Hill).

[dustin]

The shower scene, where a Xenomorph kills two of the crew members as they are having sex seems to pay homage to the iconic scene from Psycho (1960), build-up, scream, and all.

[sophie]

The shuttle landing scene was filmed in New Zealand, and a higher percentage than you expect of these landscape shots are real.