Every Alien Prequel Short Film & What They Revealed

Ridley Scott’s 1979 film Alien changed the game for many sci-fi horror fans, introducing a devastating creature called the xenomorph who would go on to star in numerous additional films, novels, comics, and a collection of short films. As part of the advertising campaign for both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, in 2012 and 2017 respectively, Ridley Scott released collections of short films that expand on the Alien universe. Then, in 2019 for the 40th anniversary of Alien, 20th Century Fox partnered with Tongal to produce short films as a celebration of the franchise.

From a TED Talk with Peter Weyland to a synthetic stuck alone on an abandoned ship with a xenomorph, the films explore a variety of different aspects of the Alien canon, with stories directed by Ridley Scott and fans alike. Thanks to this unique marketing approach, fans of the Alien series have so much to explore in terms of fleshing out the universe with stories either made or approved by the director himself.

In both the promotional and fan-made short films, fans are able to glimpse deeper into the world of Alien and how technology, Weyland-Yutani, and the xenomorphs interact with humans in the distant future on various ships, planets, and in different situations.

TED 2023 (2012)

TED 2023 depicts a TED Talk given by Peter Weyland in 2023. He discusses how rules, restrictions, laws, and ethical guidelines are the only thing stopping science from moving forward and solving the rest of the world’s problems. Weyland says that he is not afraid, and, if allowed, he will change the world. This sets up Weyland as something of a mad scientist, intent on creating change and discovering new technologies with little regard for ethical concerns. This foreshadows the events of Prometheus and the Alien series in which Weyland wants to study the xenomorph, forgoing all concerns of human safety in order to accomplish it.

Introducing the Next Generation David (2012)

The next short film is a promotion for the next generation of synthetic humans, David, by Weyland Corporations. It’s set up like a commercial, advertising how David can help improve the efficacy of organizations, while also explaining how David understands human emotions even though he can not experience them himself.

Obviously, this promo foreshadows the synthetics shown in both Prometheus and Alien, using Michael Fassbender, who plays David in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, for the commercial. David is a special new model of synthetic designed to develop its own ego, insecurities, and jealousy, which leads to conflicts with the rest of the crew.

Prometheus: Quiet Eye (2012)

This short film shows Noomi Rapace as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw from Yutani Corporation sending a video call to Peter Weyland. This film obviously sets up the plot of Prometheus, in which Dr. Elizabeth Shaw leads the crew of the Prometheus to follow a star map she has found in Scotland with Charlie Holloway. The pair interpret this map as an invitation from the Engineers to go to the distant moon LV-223.

Project Prometheus: Mission (2012)

This short film focuses on Andrea Bishop, the testing and training specialist for Project Prometheus, discussing the mission of the project and Weyland’s reasoning for naming the project after Prometheus in a sort of promotional trailer recruiting crew members for the mission aboard the Prometheus to LV-223.

Weyland Industries Testimonial (2012)

Weyland Industries Testimonial shows Jamie Rossi, a Nanotechnologist who has been working in the Biomedical field office on Luna for Weyland Industries for five years, talking about all the benefits of working for Weyland Industries. Her discussion of Weyland’s backing her project on artificial muscles is interspersed with clips of xenomorph attacks. The trailer shows that despite Weyland’s desire to show a positive face to the public, there’s more than meets the eye going on at the company.

Prometheus Transmission (2012)

Directed by Johnny Hardstaff, Prometheus Transmission is a short film that was created exclusively for the home video release of Prometheus. The film is formatted like a greeting transmission that will play ahead of the ship’s arrival at LV-223 in order to prepare any potential alien life forms inhabiting the moon for their first contact with the ship’s human crew. It shows specs and diagrams of the ship, the human crew members, and their missions along with a brief pictorial history of human culture.

Alien: Covenant – Prologue: Last Supper (2017)

This short film is the first of the promos for Alien: Covenant, showing the crew of the Covenant as they get ready for cryosleep. This is a prologue of the events of Alien: Covenant, basically introducing the characters and giving the audience a teaser of what to expect during the events of the film. It could also be a possible foreshadowing of Captain Jake Branson’s death early in the film, as he leaves quite early in the promo.

Alien: Covenant – Meet Walter (2017)

This short film shows a promo of the building and creation of Walter One, the newest iteration of synthetic humanoids. It’s much less commercial than the promo for David 8, just showing clips of the building process without any voiceover or sales-type language until the very end with the text, “Meet Walter”, shown on the screen.

Walter is also played by Michael Fassbender, and he appears as both synthetics, David and Walter in the film, Alien: Covenant. This promo foreshadows the inclusion of both the newer and the older model synthetic in the film.

Alien: Covenant – Crew Messages (2017)

This is a collection of short, one-minute messages from various members of the Covenant’s crew including Daniels, Oram, Rosenthal, Lope, and Tennessee. Each message is interspersed with screams, attacks, and general terror occurring as clips of the rest of the film appear as glitches, foreshadowing the eventual demise of the mission and the crew.

Alien: Covenant – Prologue: The Crossing (2017)

The Crossing shows the connection between Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, depicting David and Elizabeth Shaw, the only survivors of the Prometheus, and how they were able to activate the Engineers’ ship and continue their search for the home world. This obviously foreshadows the inclusion of more information about the Engineers, Dr. Shaw, and David, as well as the fact that humanity has finally been able to make contact with their home world.

Alien: Covenant – She Won’t Go Quietly (2017)

She Won’t Go Quietly shows Daniels asking Mother questions and her responding in a regular, routine fashion, until Mother stops answering and things go downhill quickly. This trailer foreshadows more of the events of the film, confirming that the xenomorph will be present and that everything on this mission will not go smoothly, as the ship will be damaged and a strange creature will make its way onboard.

Alien: Containment (2019)

This is the first of six fan-made short films created in partnership between Ridley Scott and Tongal Studios as part of a celebration of Alien’s 40th Anniversary. Alien: Containment was written and directed by Chris Reading and depicts four survivors in an escape pod as they struggle to figure out what happened and how they ended up here. This turns out to be the aftermath of the crew’s first contact with the xenomorph as they realize that one or more of their members has been “infected.” Soon we see a chestburster emerge from one of the crew. Suddenly the ship enters the dock and the one survivor rushes to write “Do Not Open” on the door in her own blood.

Alien: Specimen (2019)

Written and directed by Kelsey Taylor, Alien: Specimen focuses on Julie, a botanist, explaining to her supervisor how some strange soil samples have triggered her lab dog to act strangely. Suddenly, the greenhouse is on lockdown and she is trapped inside, but doesn’t know why. We hear the sounds of her down whining off-screen as she approaches. Finally, Julie finds the facehugger attached to the dog and kills it easily, as it’s revealed that the dog is actually a synthetic. She praises the dog for doing her job to protect the crew.

Alien: Night Shift (2019)

Night Shift was written and directed by Aidan Brezonick. It shows a missing space trucker who appears hungover and disoriented. In a passing beam of light, the audience can see the silhouette of a facehugger in the back of the alley where he was found. The trucker’s companion doesn’t notice the creature, and instead brings his friend into the colony supply depot right before closing for a drink. Once inside, the trucker’s condition worsens and he collapses as a chestburster emerges from his body; the young clerk is left alone to fend for herself. She beats the creature with a baseball bat when suddenly she hears an alert sound outside and the sounds of war and chaos as other creatures attack the colony.

Alien: Ore (2019)

Written and directed by the Spear Sisters, Kailey and Sam, Alien: Ore follows a group of miners who uncover the death of a colleague deep in the mines. As they progress further, trying to figure out what happened, they discover that the death was caused by a strange creature who begins picking off members of their crew as they fight their way back to the elevator. But, once onboard, they realize that the creature will only follow them to the surface where the rest of the colony is if they escape. The group must decide between escaping and putting the rest of the colony in danger or going back down to face their fears and fight for the safety of their families.

Alien: Harvest (2019)

Written and directed by Benjamin Howdeshell, Alien: Harvest follows the surviving crew of a damaged deep-space harvester who find themselves with just minutes left to reach the emergency evacuation shuttle. They navigate the ship with only a motion sensor tool to guide them while a xenomorph hunts them along the way. Unfortunately, by the time they make it into the escape pod, it’s revealed that the leader of the group is actually working for the xenomorphs, as an egg hatches within the pod and a facehugger attaches to one of the survivors, she stands outside with the full-grown xenomorph and smiles as they take off.

Alien: Alone (2019)

Alien: Alone was written and directed by Noah Miller. The film focuses on Hope, a synthetic left behind on the derelict chemical hauler Otranto, when it’s abandoned by its crew. Both the ship and Hope are slowly falling apart, as she tries to wait patiently for someone to come back for her. She fills her days with mundane tasks to try and keep busy until one day she discovers hidden cargo, a live xenomorph facehugger.

Hope begins to develop a fascination with the creature as it becomes her only living companion. Becoming empathetic to the creature’s imminent death as she notes that soon she herself will break down completely, she risks everything to power up the broken ship in search of human life in order to save them both. When a rescuer does finally come aboard, Hope brings her companion to the man so that the creature can survive.

David’s Lab: Last Signs of Life

David’s Lab: Last Signs of Life is a 2019 short film that was created to mark the two-year anniversary of Alien: Covenant’s home video release. The film is a sequel to Alien: Covenant showing a Weyland-Yutani team arriving to investigate David’s laboratory on Planet 4. In addition to numerous drawings, samples, and diagrams of various neomorphs and xenomorph-like lifeforms, one of the crewmembers discovers an egg that remains intact. The researcher scans the egg, but as the analysis continues the xenomorph egg begins to show signs of life, eventually opening as the researcher attempts to collect data from it. Finally, a facehugger emerges and attacks the lone investigator. As Ridley Scott has expressed an interest in adding to his Alien universe, there will likely be more reveals like these to come.

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