Alien: Covenant: Gruesome image shows off deadly Neomorph

The film's big bad is not for the faint-hearted

Alien: Covenant is drawing ever nearer and, if your excitement wasn't already in overdrive, it most likely will be following the release of the below three images.

The brand new stills - which have been unveiled exclusively by Empire - backup director Ridley Scott's claim that the sequel will be closer in spirit to his original 1979 classic Alien than any franchise entry that has followed.

First up is a still showing a mysterious figure unleashing pods on the Engineers planet - to us, this looks like David (Michael Fassbender) which corroborates previous reports seeming to confirm how Covenant will be directly linked to 2012 film Prometheus.

There's no doubt about David's appearance in the second image, here appearing in what Empire reports to be a flashback with Weyland Industries CEO Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce).

The final image - which provides a glimpse at the film's antagonist, the Neomorph - is not for the faint-hearted showing the creature graphically feasting on some poor soul.

Something tells us this won't be the only thing the Neomorph will be feasting on when Alien: Covenant is released on 12 May.

The long-awaited sequel - which Scott plans to continue with an already-written follow-up - also stars Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, James Franco and Noomi Rapace who will reprise her role of Dr, Elizabeth Shaw.