Ridley Scott Was Inspired by Drug Smuggling for 'Alien: Covenant' 

Today, Alien: Covenant is available for digital download on iTunes and Amazon video. For fans hoping to comprehend all the connections between this film, Prometheus, and the existing Alien movies, there’s a lot to unpack. Yes, there are deleted scenes. And yes, there’s a wild director’s commentary from Ridley Scott.

Spoilers are ahead for Alien: Covenant.

In terms of deleted scenes that might help better explain Covenant with the mythology of the rest of the Alien universe, there isn’t much new. The longest deleted scene is an extended version of the film’s prologue, in which the robot David (Michael Fassbender) chats with his creator, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), for a little bit longer about tea, opera, and the meaning of existence. Meanwhile, the oddest deleted scene is easily the one in which the robot Walter (also Fassbender) brings Daniels (Katherine Waterston) some cannabis, telling her that he grew it himself in the spaceship Covenant’s botany area. Daniels and Walter do not get high in the scene, though it does beg the question of what would happen if one of the Alien-verse robots did smoke pot. Would it have any effect?

Alien fans who look forward to director Ridley Scott’s commentary tracks (and you really should) will not be disappointed. Like his director’s commentary for Prometheus, Scott slyly compliments his own directorial decisions often. Toward the end of the film, when the camera is briefly in the point-of-view of a xenomorph, Scott says, “I used the alien’s point-of-view so I don’t have to show the alien. It’s pretty interesting.” He then talks about whether or not the aliens would have “floaters” in their vision the way humans do, proving his attention to strange details is truly limitless.

Later, as Daniels and Tennessee (Danny McBride) battle the xenomorph amid gunfire and explosions, Scott placidly asks, “Does the alien end up having a family? Maybe. Will we see him nurse a baby? Maybe.” And when the film ends, and Daniels realizes there’s been a robot switcharoo between Walter and David, Scott says, “Now it’s David. In his English, englishness.” The inspiration for David swallowing the tiny alien babies? Apparently, from his work on the series The Cartel, Scott learned that people swallow cocaine capsules to smuggle drugs in real life. And so, he thought this would be a cool way for David to “bring alien babies on board.”

The message here is clear. If you’re streaming Alien: Covenant, come for the deleted scenes but stay for the eccentric and charming director’s commentary.

Alien: Covenant will be available for purchase as a physical DVD and Blu-ray on August 15.