New Alien: Covenant teaser introduces Michael Fassbender's second android, Walter

Michael Fassbender is not only set to reprise his role as android David in upcoming Prometheus sequel Alien: Covenant; he's also going to appear as another synthetic. 20th Century Fox has released a teaser that prepares viewers to meet the new character, named Walter.

The 26-second video shows visuals of the robot's inner workings before confirming that the official — presumably longer — featurette will be unveiled on Friday 10 March. But that's not to say that sci-fi lovers won't be able to pick up on some things from the precursory clip.

Given that Scott has already teased that Alien: Covenant will explore where the xenomorphs came from, it's interesting that a quote from one of the most iconic – and horrific – literary tales of creation features in the latest piece of promotional material. Lifted straight from Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein, the teaser hears Walter ominously say: "Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge."

But what does the reference mean? Well, due to how impulsively the Engineer tried to destroy David at the end of Prometheus, some fans have begun speculating online whether it was androids that first made the aliens, in an attempt to eradicate the Engineers and assume dominance over whichever planet they might have been on at the time.

While this latest teaser could certainly support the fan theory – given that it was Victor Frankenstein who uttered the aforementioned statement shortly before he creates "the Monster" – in both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, the androids have travelled to other planets alongside the human characters, which seemingly confirms that they were manufactured on Earth. Only time will tell whether both David and Walter have deep, dark secrets.

Directed by Ridley Scott and also starring Danny McBride, Carmen Ejogo, James Franco and Katherine Waterston, Alien: Covenant centres around the crew of a colony spacecraft, who travel to an uncharted paradise in the hopes of forming a new Earth. But soon after they arrive, they discover that there are some pretty pesky extraterrestrials lurking about on the land, and they're not so keen on giving it up.

Alien: Covenant will be released in the UK and the US on 12 May 2017.

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