Alien: Covenant creature design revealed, Danny McBride confirms role as the ship's pilot

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Back when the Prometheus sequel was, well, a Prometheus sequel, Ridley Scott said it wouldn't feature any xenomorphs in an attempt to separate the franchise from the Alien series. Then he changed his mind. Switching the title to Alien: Covenant, he later confirmed that every type of creature from the beast's lifecycle would appear. Facehuggers, chestbursters, you name it - they're back! While we've yet to see any full-size xenos, the official Alien Twitter has now given us a glimpse at one part of the new creature design: 

 While we still don't know much about the cast of characters, Danny McBride has now confirmed his role in the movie. "I’m the pilot of the spaceship Covenant," he tells Rolling Stone, "which is a colonization ship, searching for a planet where we might start life anew. I run the ship."

Later asked about green screen vs. practical effects, McBride's response confirms that Covenant will be a return to the franchise's early days. "I didn't know if it would be all green screen, but most of the stuff is practical effects: when you're running from an alien it's really a dude in an alien suit coming after you! The sets are incredible and you're in them: We go through some inclement weather at one point on the spaceship and this whole gigantic set is on a gimbal, shaking up and down. You don't have to use your imagination."

That behind-the-scenes look at the xenomorph's hand also confirms the use of physical alien costumes. Scott's original movie featured a guy in a suit as the alien, and likewise, James Cameron's Aliens utilised a team of actors to do the same. It wasn't until Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection that CGI xenomorphs were used for the bulk of filming. Could Covenant be attempting to recapture the glory of the first two films? Sure seems like it.

Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Katherine Waterston, Michael Fassbender, Demian Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Jussie Smollett, Amy Seimetz, Callie Hernandez and Danny McBride, Alien: Covenant will open in the US on August 4, 2017 with a UK date still to be determined. 

Images: Fox   

Gem Seddon
Gem Seddon

Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.