Great Scott! Three Fascinating Religious Characters in Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant

Billy Crudup in Alien: Covenant, photo courtesy 20th Century Fox

Oram, the Christian Captain

Oram is a Christian—and a jerk.

Oh, he’s not at a Biff Tannen level of jerkdom. But he has some issues, and Scott wants us to believe that his faith plays a part in most of them.

The first mate—along with the rest of the crew of the spaceship Covenant—wakes up from cryogenic sleep when the ship encounters some serious space turbulence. And because the Covenant’s captain died during the disaster, Oram is now the ship’s captain. It’s now his job to take the ship and its cargo of 2,000 sleeping settlers (and another thousand or so embryos) to a new colony seven years distant.

But frankly, Oram (played by Billy Crudup) feels like he should’ve been captain from the get-go. He was passed over for the helm because of his faith, he insists: The powers-that-be doubted his capacity for sound judgment, given his worship of an unseen God.

And maybe they have a point. Oram tells his crew that they don’t have time to commemorate their dead captain—not exactly setting him up as a model for sensitivity. When the crewmembers sneak off to raise a glass in their comrade’s honor anyway, Oram fumes. When he quotes the Bible, his crewmembers roll their eyes and talk about how “insufferable” he is.

But as the Covenant crewmembers makes repairs to the ship, they notice another, apparently habitable planet right nearby—one that might be more hospitable than the distant planet they’re heading to. The crew doesn’t want to sleep for another seven years—particularly not after the accident. So Oram suggests they give the nearer planet a little look-see. They’ll see what’s up with the signal and maybe, if the planet works out, they can just stop there and cut seven years off their journey.

We know it’s the wrong choice, of course. Daniels, the film’s protagonist, tells us so. “It’s our responsibility to protect 2,000 colonists!” she reminds Oram.

But as clueless as Oram may be at times, it’s nothing to how confused Ridley Scott seems to be about Christians.

I don’t have a problem with the fact that Oram’s a Christian and a killjoy. I don’t even take real issue with some of the tired, Christian clichés Scott gives us here. But Oram’s faith is never really integrated into his personality—a problem, given how foreign that personality feels in the first place. I’ve never met anyone, Christian or no, who resembles Oram in any way. The captain lurches from one situation to another almost zombie-like. He feels false. He’s a badly drawn caricature, an unseemly amalgamation of religious stereotypes, biases and good intentions.

Admittedly, none of the characters in Covenant are particularly deep character studies. Most are alien hors d’oeuvres and thus don’t need a lot of backstory. But Oram’s one-dimensionality is particularly disappointing, given Scott’s effort and emphasis on his Christianity. We see lots of aliens in Alien: Covenant. But in some ways, Oram feels the most alien of all.