It sounds like a diss to say that an actor was a perfect fit for a blank, expressionless automaton, but Michael Fassbender owned his performance as synthetic robot David in Prometheus. The film remains a polarizing quantity among fans of Ridley Scott’s original, but Fassbender’s turn as the wry, faintly sinister David was a clear high point. He lent the character a small semblance of recognizable personality, but mostly dialed it back to create an unsettling, entertaining, and entirely memorable role. When the news came that Fassbender would play an android in the upcoming Alien: Covenant, many fans automatically assumed David would make a return. And while they’re not wrong, Fassbender has more circuitry hidden up his sleeve.

In a new interview with Coming Soon, Fassbender discussed returning to David, and how the bot differs from the other hunk of machinery he’ll take on, named Walter. Fassbender told them:

I think Walter’s a real different kettle of fish. David was definitely a work-in-progress, somewhat of a prototype I suppose. The elements of him that were the human elements I think people found a little disturbing, so Walter’s more of a straightforward robot. Pretty logical, much more of a servant without the ego.

 

Such is the eternal plight of Michael Fassbender — are his characters not all divorced from their core humanity, whether that’s his numbed sex addict in Shame or his furious slaveowner in 12 Years a Slave? Magneto’s a robot in his own way (not literally, though if the fan conspirators want to have at it, go nuts), driven towards the singleminded goal of revenge by any means necessary. Fassbender’s a man of many robots, some more literal than others, all united by the fact that they’re tall and handsome.

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