Alien: Covenant's Katherine Waterston has nowhere to run in first image

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20th Century Fox gave us an official first look at Alien: Covenant during last month's Alien Day, showing off a brand new crew patch. It was nice teaser to let us know production had kicked off on Ridley Scott's next xenomorphic jaunt, the first in a series of movies that will eventually connect to the original 1979 Alien. While the specifics of how this new trilogy plans to catch up to that first film remain under wraps, we at least know of one continuing trend: ass-kicking female leads.  

Today, another photo has been released from the set, offering a first glimpse at one of the new crew members destined to tussle with those creatures. Meet your new Ripley, aka Daniels: 

The photo surfaced over on the official Alien Facebook page, and shows Katherine Waterston's character hunkered down in a dark, shadow-filled corridor. The biggest takeaway is how much she resembles the leading heroines from previous movies in the Alien series. Short-cropped hair, grubby vest, and a large firearm resting against her leg: she's got a lot in common with Ellen Ripley. There's even a hint of Noomi Rapace's Shaw character from Prometheus.  

When Scott changed his initial plans for the film to become more Alien-centric (and less of a straight Prometheus sequel) Rapace's character was given the boot. Covenant will instead focus on an entirely new crew led by Waterston who venture to a planet where the android David is tinkering with Engineer technology. So you know, expect plenty of xenomorphs. 

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 October 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.