Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Fede revealed that the film is set up so it can work as its own story, but is also rich with connections to the rest of the Alien universe for long-time fans.
"The way we crafted it is if you haven’t seen any of them, I’m jealous because you’ll have an incredible experience," he explained. "You’ll have all these worlds of Alien coming at you, and you’ve never experienced any of this. You don’t know how the creature is born, and you don’t know any of these things. That’s fantastic. You’ll have a blast.
"Now, if you’ve seen the others, then it’s a completely different experience in a way, because you’ll see and you’ll find those connections with the other movies. And if you’re a fan, you’ll be that person who annoys your friends in the theatre, by telling them that you know what this is from and where that gun is from and what the characters are talking about.
"So it is crafted in that way, and hopefully it works that way for everybody, but it is connected to all of them. I love all of those movies. I didn’t want to omit or ignore any of them when it comes to connections at a story level, character level, technology level and creature level. There’s always connections from Alien to Alien: Covenant."