Alien: Covenant featured Michael Fassbender as androids David and Walter One, and there is a logical reason for their different accents. When Ridley Scott returned to the Alien movie franchise with 2012’s Prometheus, he did so in the belief that the original Xenomorph was “cooked” (via IndieWire). He felt the monster had been too overexposed in various sequels and pop culture that it could never be frightening again. Instead, with Prometheus and Covenant, Scott wanted to replace the titular creature with another “alien” being.
Thus, Scott wanted Michael Fassbender’s rogue android David to become the new villain. After Alien: Covenant’s bleak cliffhanger ending, a third prequel would have found David experimenting with the Engineer’s Black Goo and creating more Xenomorph monstrosities. The mixed response to Covenant saw this road map torn up, with 2024’s Alien: Romulus instead focusing on new protagonists and returning to the survival horror roots of the saga. This is a pity, since Fassbender’s David was a fascinating villain, and his story deserves some payoff.
Walter Has An American Accent In Alien: Covenant
David’s “brother” is the next generation of Weyland android
An interesting wrinkle Alien: Covenant added to David’s story was the introduction of Walter One, another android with the handsome face of Michael Fassbender. The big difference between David and Walter is the latter speaks with an American accent and is much less emotional than his predecessor. Of course, Walter has had the benefit of constant maintenance and human companionship, while David has spent a decade or so by himself in the ruins of an alien world.
“David and Walter” are named in homage to
Alien
producers and screenwriters David Giler and Walter Hill.
More than the differing accents between Walter and David, the former is notably far more robotic and clinical. David is a free thinker who yearns to break away from his human creators and has taught himself music and painting. Walter, on the other hand, neither understands nor yearns for these pursuits. He is programmed to be loyal to the Covenant crew and protect them, and it feels like the emotions he does convey – such as sympathy for Daniels (Katherine Waterston) following her husband’s death – are pre-programmed responses.
The Practical Reason For Walter & David’s Different Accents Explained
The accents also come into play for Alien: Covenant’s big twist
It was a fun concept to have dueling Fassbender androids, and their relationship is the most engaging of the prequel – the controversial flute sequence notwithstanding. On a storytelling level, it was necessary to give Walter and David different accents just so viewers could tell them apart easily. Fassbender could have used the same accent and conveyed the characters through body language or tone of voice, but the British and American accents just keep things clearer.
Alien: Covenant also utilizes the old evil twin trope, revealing that David has either killed or deactivated Walter offscreen and has been imitating him for the entire third act. While certain viewers spotted this reveal coming miles away, David adopting his “brother’s” accent and body language at least fooled the surviving Covenant crew. If Fassbender had used the same voice for both androids from the beginning, this switcharoo would have been harder to pull off.
Walter’s Accent Shows How Much Has Changed With Weyland’s Androids
David isn’t Peter Weyland’s only son
Alien: Covenant opens with David being “born,” and meeting his father Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce). This opening sets up that David is the first of his kind, but also that he was given unique emotional abilities by his creator, including a love of music. David might be Weyland’s “son,” but when the android starts positing that he is – logically speaking – superior to his mortal father, Weyland puts him in his place by making him serve tea.
Walter possesses none of the things that make David more human or existential and he believes he exists only to serve his masters.
All of the human elements that made David unique were stripped out of later models, and by the time Alien: Covenant’s main story kicks in, these androids have been mass-produced. Walter possesses none of the things that make David more human or existential, and he believes he exists only to serve his masters. Walter has no problem with his place in the world, so despite David trying to open his mind and show him he can be so much more, the robot defines himself by his service.
Weyland possibly spotted how dangerous more androids like David could be, which is why he made sure later models took away his ability to think and create. Ridley Scott clearly thought this was a bad idea too, since both Blade Runner and Alien: Covenant underlined the dangers of giving AI more sentience and free will. The 2017 prequel even suggests it was David’s artistic abilities that led to the creation of the Xenomorph, though this is a point that fans will passionately debate the director on.
Source: IndieWire
