ALIEN: COVENANT has a new type of Xenomorph

Several decades since it debuted in Ridley Scott’s masterful Alien, and the Xenomoprh is still one of the most frightening movie monsters of all time. A blend of biomechanical ideas and genital nightmare fuel, the entire life-cycle of a Xenomorph is nothing but pain and misery for any other organism that gets in its way. And it’s a design that has held up fairly well over the years as well.

Minus a few tweaks here and there as puppeteering and computer-generated technology improved, Xenomorphs have all sported a uniform appearance: A head where size very much does matter, a profuse amount of slobbering from both their jaws and a creepy lack of any eyes whatsoever. That being said, the Aliens franchise has toyed around over the years with introducing new variants of the merciless species in other films and media.

The most recent of which was the Deacon, a prototype Xenomorph from the end of Prometheus when an Engineer fell victim to the mother of all cunning linguist movie monsters. In the sequel to that prequel, expect an even newer strain of the chest-bursting bastard to pop up. That’s according to Michael Fassbender, who spoke to BBC Radio 2 via io9 about his upcoming role in Alien: Covenant and name-dropped some new blood in the franchise:

With Alien [my parents] allowed me to watch it and I just remember seeing where the Neomorph, or whatever that creature is ,burst out of John Hurt’s stomach.

Now that does require some pinching of the salt. Fassbender could have flubbed the usual name for the alien species, but website Alien vs. Predator Galaxy say that Fassbender isn’t exactly far-off. According to their film set sources, Neomorphs “are the result of the local ecosystem being mutated by the accelerant/black goo.

Over time, pods started to grow on the trees and the ground, and release a spore when disturbed.

Interesting stuff then. I’m all for a new strain of Xenomorph being introduced into the Alien franchise as we creep closer up on the original design that worked in tandem with Jonesy to rid the Nostromo of all human life save Sigourney Weaver. It’ll be a helluva lot better than Alien: Resurrection’s Newborn abomination, which was horrifying for all the wrong reasons. Gaaah, too many genitals.

Last Updated: October 25, 2016