Alien: Covenant: 4-minute prologue reveals new crew and James Franco's captain

With Alien: Covenant, it seems clear director Ridley Scott is attempting to strip the franchise back to its claustrophobic, terror-driven origins.

Which is why the newly released 4-minute prologue to the film plays out so much like the opening scenes of any typical horror yarn, as the crew of the colony ship Covenant laugh and celebrate together before they enter cryosleep, with their ship on course to land on a remote planet so that they may build a new human settlement.

Though an eerie shadow of foreboding hangs over all of them, especially thanks to the clip's title, 'The Last Supper'; with the ship's captain Branson (James Franco) looking worse for wear, wrapped in a blanket and declaring he's ducking out of the party.

Considering Franco's role has been confirmed to be relatively small, it looks as if things may not go so well for Branson down the line.

Meanwhile, we also got a first real look at Michael Fassbender's new android character Walter; differing to Prometheus' David with both his darker coloured hair and American accent, Walter is seen giving Katherine Waterston's Daniels a medical checkup pre-cryosleep.

The preview was directed by Ridley Scott's son, Luke, and won't actually feature as part of the final film; with things perhaps instead commencing once the crew wake up from cryosleep.

The film also stars the likes of Danny McBride, Billy Crudup, Demian Bichir, Jussie Smollett, and Carmen Ejogo; seeing the Covenant crew discover what they believe to be an uncharted paradise while journeying to a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy; but they soon come to understand this new world is actually a dark, threatening place, inhabited only by the 'synthetic' David (Fassbender), a survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.

Alien: Covenant will be released in the UK on 19 May.