What is perhaps the most divisive Alien movie actually introduces the franchise’s most important character since Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, but it unfortunately ends up wasting her. The first Alien movie was directed by Ridley Scott and was released in 1979. After the first film in the series, Weaver’s Ripley became such a popular character that she was featured in three more Alien movies. However, 1992’s Alien 3 and 1997’s Alien: Resurrection did not receive particularly good reviews, which led to the franchise being stagnant for many years, other than the crossover Alien vs. Predator movies.

15 years after Alien: Resurrection, Scott returned to the franchise with Prometheus. After seeing that early scenes in Prometheus were set on Earth, I immediately knew it would be a drastically different entry in the Alien franchise. In fact, Prometheus is one of the most divisive Alien movies. While some fans admire the film for explaining some of the mysteries of the Alien series, others believe that Prometheus made the franchise less interesting by revealing too much. Regardless of what you believe, it is undeniable that Prometheus establishes Elizabeth Shaw as one of the most important characters in the franchise.

Elizabeth Shaw Died Horribly Offscreen Between Prometheus And Alien: Covenant

Elizabeth Shaw Is Not One Of The Main Characters In Prometheus’ Sequel

In the film, the Prometheus’ expedition gets funded by Peter Weyland after Elizabeth and her partner, Charlie, spent years compiling drawings of the Engineers from all over Earth. Believing that the Engineers created the human race, Elizabeth and Charlie are desperate to meet their creators. However, at the end of Prometheus, it is revealed that the group of Engineers they found were actually on course to wipe out humanity. The Last Engineer tries to kill Elizabeth but is eventually killed by the Trilobite, which gives her a chance to escape.

After being the sole human survivor of the events of Prometheus, Elizabeth Shaw sets off with David, an advanced android, to find the true home of the Engineers. The ending of Prometheus perfectly sets up a sequel, which eventually took the form of Alien: Covenant. However, Alien: Covenant was not the sequel that fans were expecting, since Elizabeth Shaw actually dies between the events of the two films.

Prometheus Was Setting Up Shaw To Be The Franchise’s Most Important Lead Since Ripley

Elizabeth Shaw’s Death Was Very Disappointing After Prometheus’ Ending

Prometheus wonderfully develops Shaw as an interesting character, and I would have loved to watch a film about her and David’s journey to the home planet of the Engineers. However, the best fans got was an online prologue that was posted just before the release of Alien: Covenant in the spring of 2017. The online prologue shows Elizabeth repairing David, who is destroyed at the end of Prometheus. David talks about how kind Elizabeth is, before eventually putting her in cryosleep. The prologue mysteriously ends with David finally arriving at the Engineers’ home planet, but Elizabeth is not present.

Alien: Covenant reveals that upon his arrival, David actually destroys the Engineers’ home planet, wiping them all out. At some point between the events of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, David decides that androids are superior to both humans and the Engineers. In addition to wiping out all the Engineers, Alien: Covenant reveals that David also killed Elizabeth and performed experiments on her. While David is also an intriguing character, Elizabeth dying between the two films is extremely disappointing since she was the franchise’s best character since Ripley.

Prometheus Needed A Sequel About David And Shaw Looking For The Engineers’ Home

An Additional Sequel To Prometheus Could Have Further Developed Elizabeth Shaw

After establishing herself as a fantastic protagonist in Prometheus, Elizabeth receives an underwhelming death between the two movies. Given the need for Alien: Covenant to release a prologue before it came out, I don’t think it’s unfair to say that it feels like there’s a movie that’s missing between Prometheus and Covenant. This movie could have followed Elizabeth and David as they searched for the Engineers’ home planet, and explored their relationship more closely before the events of Alien: Covenant unfolded.

I actually don’t think the way Elizabeth dies is a bad story decision. Her fate could still be the same, but it could’ve been executed much better by taking place during an actual movie, rather than between Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. By killing Elizabeth between the two movies, it seems like Scott simply didn’t care about her at all, which is a shame since she is a standout in Prometheus and one of the best characters in the Alien franchise.