TheAlienseries still hasn’t answered the biggest mystery fromPrometheus, and this enigma could help to get the franchise’s story back on track if it were clearer. While the overarchingstoryline of theAlienmovieswas never entirely clear, the franchise became far harder to follow in 2012.Alien’s original director, Ridley Scott, returned to the series for the prequelPrometheusand proceeded to disregard all the backstory established in 2004’sAlien Vs Predator.Prometheusoffered a new origin for Weyland Yutani complete with a new CEO and a convoluted plot that complicated the franchise .
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Prometheussent a group of researchers to study the origins of humanity on a faraway planet, only for them to run afoul of the franchise’s titular Xenomorph. Soon, things got much more complicated asPrometheusadded toAlien’s mythology, revealing that the Engineers glimpsed in the original movie were the creators of mankind. The Engineers planned to wipe out humanity by using the Xenomorph as a bioweapon, a confusing twist thatPrometheusnever fully explained. However, the biggest issue with this plot was what the Engineers using Xenomorphs as a weapon implied about their relationship to the species.
Did The Engineers Create The Xenomorph Or Not?
Prometheus Never Clarified The Engineers’ Relationship With The Xenomorph
Prometheusnever actually explains whether the Engineers created the Xenomorph or not, and this is a crucial piece of missing information from the franchise’s canon. There is a mural carved into the walls of their structure that depicts the Xenomorph, but it is unclear whether the Engineers created this art to celebrate their greatest weapon yet or to commemorate a discovery. If the Xenomorph already existed, this mural could be akin to a cave painting of buffalo drawn by early humans. If the Engineers created the Xenomorph, it is equally likely that they would celebrate this via a piece of art.
It is plausible that the Engineers came across the Xenomorph in their space travel and utilized it as a weapon.
The Engineers, as their name implies, engineered entire species like humanity itself. As such, it is entirely believable that they could have created the Xenomorph, too. The black goo thatDavid used to poison Charliewas created by the Engineers, so it is clear that they count sophisticated, powerful bioweapons among their arsenal. However, this doesn’t clarify where the Xenomorph comes in. After all, it is equally plausible that the Engineers came across the Xenomorph in their space travel and utilized it as a weapon. The Xenomorph may even be the source of the black goo, as some theories suggest.
Prometheus’ Biggest Mystery Only Got More Complicated After Covenant
Alien: Covenant’s David Plot Made This Story More Convoluted
To make matters worse,2017’s sequelAlien: Covenantimplied that David might have invented the Xenomorph, too. The Xenomorph that viewers know could be the result of David’s experimental attempts to create the perfect bioweapon, particularly because David’s version of the alien is powerful enough to wipe out an entire planet of Engineers. However, if the Engineers simply found the Xenomorph fully formed, then David’s experiments might have been mere folly, and he may have had nothing to do with the original movie’s Xenomorph.FX’s upcomingAlienshowAlien: Earthshowrunner took this stance.
Noah Hawley toldKCRW’sThe Businesspodcast that the idea of the Xenomorph as a bioweapon invented “Half an hour ago” didn’t interest him as much as the original movie’s depiction of an unstoppable monster that evolved naturally. While Weyland Yutani and the Engineers certainly utilized the Xenomorph as weapons, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they invented them in the first place. Like many naturally occurring chemicals, animals, and species, the Xenomorph could be used as a weapon of war to take advantage of their existing defense mechanisms. The problem is thatPrometheusandAlien: Covenantrefused to canonically clarify whether this is the case.
Alien’s New Show Could Finally Settle The Xenomorph Origin Debate
FX’s Alien: Earth Can Clarify The Xenomorph’s Origin Story
Fortunately,FX’sAlien: Earthcan explain where the Xenomorphs came fromonce and for all.Alien: Earthwill feature the Xenomorph and the show will be set on Earth before the original movie, when the Weyland Yutani Corporation was gaining prominence.Alien: Romulus’s nastiest deathproves that the company was experimenting with numerous Xenomorphs in their labs afterAlien, soAlien: Earthcan explain exactly how much they knew about the creature’s history and origins before the Nostromo encountered the Xenomorph. This could involve retconningPrometheus’s events, but it could as easily mean explaining the prequel’s story further.
Alien: Earthis expected to arrive in 2025.
SincePrometheusnever explains whether the Engineers created the Xenomorph,Alien: Earthdoesn’t necessarily need to undo the prequel’s story. However, if the series is to prove that Xenomorphs were invented by the Engineers, then the show will need to clarify whether they predate humanity or not. It would also be worth explaining whether there are any species that weren’t invented by the Engineers in this case, or if they are effectively the creator gods of theAlienmythos. Thanks to these complications, there is a clear answer to this mystery that the series should pursue whenAlien: Eartharrives.
What Should The Xenomorph’s True Origin In Alien Be?
The Xenomorphs Work Better As A Pre-Existing Alien
The Xenomorph works best as an existing alien species rather than a bioweaponinvented by David or the Engineers. In bothAlienand the prequel movies, the Xenomorphs are depicted less as active agents of evil and more as unthinking, unfeeling killing machines. They are no more inherently malicious than a wild animal and, in one of the best lines fromAliens, Ripely questions whether the Xenomorphs might be less amoral than the franchise’s cold, calculating human villains. If the Xenomorph is a naturally occurring predator, then the corporation’s decision to use it as a weapon is more damning.
If the Xenomorphs were always meant to be monsters, then Weyland-Yutani didn’t do anything wrong in using them as such.
In contrast, if the Engineers invented the Xenomorphs, then viewers can surmise that they were always intended to function as some sort of super-effective bioweapon. This lets Weyland-Yutani off the hook as the corporation isn’t exploiting a natural resource but instead entering into a sort of interspecies arms deal with the Engineers. If the Xenomorphs were always meant to be monsters, then the company didn’t do anything wrong in using them as such. If they are animals that existed before the Engineers and humanity encountered them, then theAlienfranchise andPrometheus’s utilization of them say something damning about their villains.
