The world’s most advanced synthetic companion was once named David, who looked a hell of a lot like his brand new counterpart, Walter. A new poster for the upcoming Alien: Covenant seems to act as an in-world advertisement for the A.I. known simply as Walter, who will be portrayed by Michael Fassbender in the film.
Ridley Scott’s Alien franchise has always played games with questions of humanity, and Alien: Covenant, the sixth film in the series, doesn’t seem to be straying from that. Covenant’s prequel, Prometheus, ended with the A.I. David (Fassbender) as slightly more sentient than his makers at Weyland probably ever intended.
The new poster for Walter reveals that this A.I. is a joint venture of the Weyland-Yutani Corp., a merger between Prometheus’s Weyland Corp and the Japanese Yutani Corporation that occurs in the Alien-verse in 2099, six years after the events of Prometheus. Maybe Yutani’s influence in A.I. will make Walter a little less rebellious than his predecessor.
Walter is — like David — “created to serve.” But who, exactly, was he created to serve?
Find out more about Walter when Alien: Covenant premieres in theaters May 19, 2017.
