Alien: Covenant ending explained: Is the android David or Walter?

Alien: Covenant, directed and produced by Ridley Scott, premiered in the USA on May 19, 2017. It is the eighth film in the Alien franchise, with the ninth film, Alien: Romulus, currently in theaters.

A sequel to the 2012 film Prometheus, Alien: Covenant continues exploring the origins of the titular alien species and delves into how artificial intelligence mediates between human beings and their various quests. The synopsis of the film on IMDb reads:

“The crew of a colony ship, bound for a remote planet, discover an uncharted paradise with a threat beyond their imagination, and must attempt a harrowing escape.”

The film is set in 2104 AD, eleven years after the events of Prometheus. It opens with the colonization ship Covenant sailing through space, with 2,000 colonists in stasis and 1,140 human embryos in cold storage. However, a series of misadventures plague the crew of the ship.

The android onboard Covenant, Walter, is an advanced version of the android seen in Prometheus, named David. The two meet each other on a planet and, due to several differences, confront each other. By the end of the film, David slyly pretends to be Walter and gets on board Covenant.

Alien: Covenant: David has the last laugh

A still from the film (Image via 20th Century Fox)

As Alien: Covenant opens, a neutrino burst damages the ship, killing the captain of the crew while he is in cryosleep like the others. When the crew discovers some signals from a nearby planet, Christopher Oram, the new captain, decides to investigate.

This decision goes against the stated mission to go to planet Origae-6 with the ship’s payload. Further, Daniels, the deceased captain Branson's widow, suspects that the newly discovered planet is too good to be safe.

However, Oram leads the charge as they explore the habitable conditions of the new planet. The planet seems quite habitable, but strangely, there is no life around. As Alien: Covenant progresses, the crew members are seen unwittingly making contact with the eggs of aliens and getting infected by the substance that creates those life forms.

As the crew members fall prey to the newly born aliens one by one, David, the android seen in Prometheus, rescues the remaining crew and takes them to a temple. He tells them how only he and Shaw survived the Prometheus expedition.

However, as the film progresses, it is shown that David actually killed all life forms upon arriving at this planet by unleashing the black gooey substance that is infused with the ability to either create or destroy life. It is also revealed that David actually killed Shaw himself.

During a confrontation, David tells Oram that human beings are weak and fallible, and he wants to create the perfect life form. As David’s intentions are exposed, Walter and David get into a physical showdown towards the end of the film. Walter seems to emerge victorious and gets on board Covenant.

However, the closing shots of the film reveal that it is actually David who pretended to be Walter in order to get into the ship. This twist is all the more effective due to the fact that this realization dawns upon Daniels when she has already started to lose consciousness in her cryosleep. Daniels watches on as David gets one step closer to his diabolical plans.

What has been David’s plan all along?

Alien: Covenant, like the other entries in the franchise, is a prolonged meditation on the theme of creation. David is an android created by humans, but humanity fails to impress the immaculate David, and he seeks to create something far better than the human species itself one day. Alien: Covenant, essentially, asks if the one created can create, too.

David’s plan all along has been to emerge as a creator himself. Unimpressed by the various failings of humanity, he seeks to create the perfect species by employing and experimenting with the black gooey substance seen in Prometheus. Alien: Covenant shows that the new generations of aliens are the result of David’s experiments on the lonely planet.

So unwavering has been David’s focus that he even killed Shaw in the process, using her body to aid his experiments. As Alien: Covenant closes, viewers see that David has brought some embryos containing the alien creatures on board the sheep. This is the fact that unsettles Daniels as she helplessly falls into her cryosleep.

Alien: Covenant: Cast and crew

The movie was directed and produced by Ridley Scott. While the story was developed by Jack Paglen and Michael Green, the screenplay for the film was written by John Logan and Dante Harper. The film was edited by Pietro Scalia, and Dariusz Wolski handled the cinematography.

The cast of Alien: Covenant includes: