Today we’ll finally answer the question if the humanoid beings on planet 4 are engineers or not. The inhabitants of Planet 4 were the subject of debate for years, and even Ridley Scott provided conflicting descriptions of who they actually are. In some interviews, Scott identifies them as Engineers and claims Planet 4 is the engineer homeworld. Yet, in other interviews, he says the Engineers will return in future movies to discover what David has done on their planet, suggesting that the planet 4 inhabitants might not be the original Engineers but rather a colony, just like Earth, created by Engineers.
In this rare interview, Scott says:
“There will be 3 or 4 different players coming in to investigate. One of which will be the Engineers who’ll be arriving back to find their planet decimated.”
Here’s the link to the full interview: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=136355930275498
After looking at all the evidence and various clues I’ve discovered a concrete and definite answer about who these beings are and how they relate to the engineer in the beginning of Prometheus and the last engineer in LV on 223
So could these humanoids and Planet 4 be the actual engineers?
One theory suggests that the reason why these beings looked so primitive compared to the engineers in Prometheus is because their society regressed and simply forgot all the advanced technologies that they had in the past. And because the LV223 engineer was in cryosleep for 2000 years, during that time other engineers on thier home planet lost all their technologies Possibly because the outbreak on LV223 killed off all the scientists in the engineer society. So this theory suggests that the beings on planet 4 are engineers however their civilization has dramatically regressed, similar to what happened in Europe after the fall of Rome in the Dark Ages. Although this theory sounds plausible it is not true.
There are many clues that point to the fact that the beings on planet 4 are not engineers and the planet itself is not the engineer’s home world.
At the end of Prometheus David says that the engineer came from a planet that is called paradise in many ancient cultures on earth. Prometheus ended with showing David going to the engineer paradise planet for answers which was one of the most anticipated elements of alien covenant. So because initially alien covenant was promoted largely by showing David will reach the paradise planet with even the script for alien covenant initially called “paradise lost” many people believe that these humanoid beings or engineers however they are not and let’s see why his case.
Physical Differences
The only resemblance between Planet 4 inhabitants and engineers is that they both have pale white skin and completely know hair. And this is where they are similarities end and it turns out that they have way more differences. The eyes of the original engineers are completely pitched black however if we look closely the beings on planet 4 have human eyes. They’re also way shorter than the engineers in Prometheus. In the scene where David walks across the Colosseum, we can see the bodies of planet or inhabitants and they are very short possibly even shorter than humans. This is in contrast with the towering height of engineers of at least eight feet again suggesting that planet 4 inhabitants differ from the original engineers in so many ways.
Technologically Inferior
Planet 4 inhabitants seem to be way behind the engineers and Prometheus in terms of technology. They wear primitive robes looking like peasants, a stark deviation from the technologically advanced appearance and proficiency with machinery exhibited by the actual Engineers in Prometheus. One of the deleted scenes of Alien Covenant reveals that there were other juggernaut ships on planet 4 stored underneath the docking platform. So while the Planet 4 residents had access to juggernauts, they seemed unfamiliar with their operation and have no knowledge on how to fly them. Their city also appeared somewhat ancient with the Juggernaut docking stating having a completely different design from the rest of the city suggesting that it’s not from this planet. The city had Roman style with a large stadium and pretty basic buildings without any Geiger-style designs that are always present in juggernauts. And the difference between engineer architecture and the one on planet 4 is clearly visible while looking at the docking station and the city. All this evidence suggests that the Planet 4 beings is likely be a colony frequently visited by the actual Engineers. Their joyful reception of David’s juggernaut indicates they might have been anticipating the return of their celestial creator’s Engineers for quite some time.
Alternative Theory
However, there is another theory that seems to challenge this clear conclusion. The inhabitants of Planet 4 wear robes similar to the Engineers at the start of “Prometheus”, suggesting they could belong to the same group. We don’t have a clear reference to determine the height of the Engineers from the opening deleted scene in Prometheus. So this theory suggests they might have been shorter than the Last Engineer on lv 223, sharing a similar height with humans and the beings on Planet 4. This theory opens the possibility that there might be distinct factions of Engineers. One faction could be more religious, wearing robes and constructing stone cities like we see in “Alien Covenant”. Meanwhile, the group on LV-223 could represent a scientific faction, driven by a quest to unlock the secrets of the universe through science and bio-technology, even enhancing their height with genetic engineering.
However, this theory is false and the engineers in the deleted opening scene of Prometheus are not the same as on planet 4 and multiple clues prove that. To sacrifice engineer had pitch-black eyes again a stark deviation from the beings on planet 4. However, even if this individual was genetically engineered to be perfect all the other engineers in the group also have completely black eyes. In addition, sacrifice engineer did not have nipples but beings on the planet or had them which is evident by the designs left by David. Also, the group of engineers in Prometheus did not have any women which is also the case on the hologram on LV 223 however female specimens can be clearly seen on planet 4. All these clues indicate the inhabitants of planet four are completely separate from all the engineers that we saw in Prometheus leaving us with only one possibility they are the colony just like Earth created by the actual engineers.
Prometheus strongly implied that David and Shaw would reach the actual engineer homeworld however because the movie faced such critique upon its release, Alien Covenant decided to go to a different direction and leave visiting the paradise planet for later movies.
And after the release of alien covenant Scott said that in the next movie David will go to “the planet” strongly implying that now that David created this lethal Organism he will go to the engineer homeworld. This time the actual engineer homeworld and unleash an army of xenomorphs on them. It’s unclear if we’ll ever get this movie since studio now wants to go in a different direction with alien Romulus. However, they might still return to David storyline later if Romulus proves to be successful.