Contrary to what we have heard in the past, and the fact that the film has already commenced shooting, Noomi Rapace is on board to reprise her role as Elizabeth Shaw in Alien: Covenant. Previous reports made no mention of her, and even the synopsis that was released seemed to have indicated that she did not survive the events after Prometheus, despite being one of the only survivors to have her head on her shoulders and all four limbs attached. In fact, the only person that made it onto the film’s synopsis was David (Michael Fassbender), and if you recall, his head was taken clean off of his android body. So it would have been interesting to know who was the one person to reattach his head to his body.

Now we know who, but what will Elizabeth Shaw be doing in the film. More on that below.

Deadline was one of the first to confirm the casting today but cannot say whether this was part of the plan or something that was a spur of the moment. While we don’t know the capacity of her role, the report says that she will be shooting “weeks worth of scenes” in Australia. Depending on what she is shooting, she could very well meet up with the new crew of Covenant in some shape or form. Maybe flashbacks. Or maybe she will be a computer exposition. Hopefully, we will at least find out why David is the “sole inhabitant” of this “remote planet on the far side of the galaxy.” Guess we will have to wait and see which one of these characters she will play. But for now, at least we know she will be back.

Here’s the official synopsis for Alien: Covenant:

Set as the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that began with Prometheus, Alien: Covenant connects directly to Ridley Scott’s 1979 seminal work of science fiction. It begins with the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy. There, the crew discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world “” whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David, survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.

Director Ridley Scott is recently coming off another space epic, The Martian, following a series of less than stellar films. Alien: Covenant also stars Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, and Amy Seimetz as members of the doomed crew bound for what is likely their last expedition.

[Source: Deadline]