Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien: Covenant’ Gets an Earlier Release Date

Although Alien: Covenant is a horror film, its planned October 2017 release seemed a little too on-the-nose, especially for a blockbuster sci-fi project. With an increasingly excellent cast, we’re fairly excited for Ridley Scott’s upcoming Alien prequel, which makes today’s news of an earlier release date pretty wonderful.

BoxOffice.com revealed a slew of new release dates for Fox projects, removing Channing Tatum’s Gambit from the schedule, dating two Marvel mystery films, and giving Alien: Covenant an earlier release. Scott’s new Alien prequel / Prometheus sequel has been moved up from its October 2017 release to August 4, 2017, which seems more appropriate given the scope of the film.

Alien: Covenant features the return of Michael Fassbender’s David, while Noomi Rapace will not be reprising her role as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Scott previously said her part would be quite brief, anyway). Katherine Waterston stars as the leader of a new derelict crew, who happen upon a seemingly uncharted paradise, only to make the disconcerting discovery that David is the planet’s only inhabitant.

The upcoming film (the first of at least two more Alien prequels) also stars Danny McBride and Demian Bichir. Several new cast members joined the lineup over the past week, including Billy Crudup, Empire’s Jussie Smollett, indie favorite Amy Seimetz, Selma’s Carmen Ejogo and newcomer Callie Hernandez.