Prometheus is one of my favorite movies. Covenant didn’t have to be and imo should not have been an “Alien” movie in the same way the Prometheus wasn’t.

The Engineers and their relationship to humans is way more interesting than the alien at the point.

The different and more advanced ways that the black goo could combine is more interesting than the alien at this point (this The Bishop in Prometheus and the Neomorphs in Covenant).

My theory is that the planet in Covenant is by no means the Engineer’s main / most advanced world but rather some backwater experiencing technological regression (or it could be their main world under the same conditions).

From the different ship styles we see in Prometheus and their very different functions it suggests, if not different / opposed factions, at least vast organizations with very different strategic purposes.

Or perhaps the disk ship at the beginning of Prometheus is a stolen / rogue / or the last “lifegiver” ship that is running as far as they can on a panspermia mission, while the militaristic side is a faction of Engineers task with “cleaning up the mess” across worlds.

Like there’s so many different directions that could have gone with other than “David 8 created/recreated the standard alien and is now going…where?”