In the Alien films, robots can be helpful, but they also often try to murder you or impregnate you with extraterrestrial DNA, but in Alien: Covenant, Michael Fassbender says his new robot character, Walter, is actually a lot like a famous Vulcan from Star Trek.
“I wanted Walter to be more Spock-like — devoid of human characteristics or emotional contents that are programmed into David,” Fassbender told EW on Friday. The contrast here is that the robot he played in Prometheus, David, seemed to already have a fully-formed personality, whereas Fassbender said he wanted his new robot to be “a blank canvas one can project things upon.” While the Spock comparison is interesting, it should be noted that Spock himself is not entirely unfeeling, nor a blank canvas. He’s got feelings: He’s just really logical and controlled about it.
But, if we give Fassbender a break, the one thing Spock didn’t do was smile all that much. And the first Fassbender robot, David, smiled all the time, albeit a bit creepily. So, what all this means is that Walter will probably smile less and for the most part show less emotion than his predecessor. Will Walter be generally friendlier than David? Or will he be just as evasive as to his true motives? Because if Walter is truly more “Spock-like,” then at the very least, deep down, he’ll be a good guy.
Alien: Covenant opens on May 19.
