The Branson character....

I've touched a bit on this too.Crudup is my suspect.

Maybe, as you say, Branson is sick and left in cryo and will play a larger role in a future installment?

Maybe he stays in cryo sleep or just in bed and Tennessee goes down to save the landing crew and then he turns around and saves them?  Who knows

Maybe Branson/Franco will serve as the host for the final drone?

There are a number of things they are holding back...

We basically can work out who in that 15 cast of the Last Supper Viral dies and where and how.... (i can post on a Spoiler thread details as its simple to Work Out).

But we are shown the following.

*Engineers seem all dead.

*We see Xenomorph, and Eggs, Face Hugger and will get Chest Buster and we seen it in both trailers.

*The same applies to the Neomorph.

*Synopsis claims David is sole inhabitant at the time the Covenant arrives, and at some point Daniels finds Shaws Dog Tags.. she is bound to have Questions.

*We now know that Crudup will play the more Shaw Character this time, where their Faith will blind their Judgment.

*Seems set up that Walter is a lovely servant Robot

*David is well different and untrustworthy and evil etc etc.

*seems to hint some problem that Crudup has with authority as i mentioned after the Last Supper Viral my interpretation and the Set Reports interviews confirm it...  Crudup realizes he has more experience and is superior but he is not in charge and when he does become in Charge the others dont seem to follow him as a leader type..

*The Last Supper Vibe seems to tease at either a Sacrificial Role for Franco or someone else being a Judas.

So yes there is a lot thats hinted and shown... so have FOX/Ridley played all their Cards?

NOPE.... i think they have a Few Aces up their sleeves and i think they will throw a few curve-balls as far as who we think is what and what we think is happening and maybe also how we view Prometheus will change after this movie.

@Big Dave - hope you are right on the curve balls coming our way.  I'll be interested to see how the Franco character plays out.

I have been wondering this too! I have been basically moving along with the thought that he dies, but I don't know how early or how. I think that the two options are that Franco somehow dies from an infection (or some such thing) in the first act, or since he was feeling sick, he doesn't go down to the planet. He stays up in orbit either in cryosleep part of the time or maybe he is awake, keeping up to date from afar? And then maybe possibly he gets down to the planet late in the third act to try and save the people who are left. 

If he is indeed sick, then maybe he will be more prone to some spores floating around, or goo, or one of the alien creatures will sense his sickness and be able to take him? To be facehugged or whatever these new things will do.

It is just so tough to tell. Such a big name actor, such a small role screen time wise, but with a supposed heavy effect on the story. That combination of elements have me leanings towards him rejoining the crew in the third act and that is where he meets his demise. 

Maybe his infects begins to kill aliens in the end like War of the Worlds ;-]

Yeah almost certainly will be a twist involving Branson. Otherwise, why waste precious screen time on a dead end character?

Agree with you all, I've previously said that I think the trailers have only scratched the surface and as Big Dave says hopefully Ridley still has a few aces up his sleeve.

in part 3 of that on set interview in of the characters says that Branson dies early in the movie.

Personally I think McBride got his buddy a spot in the movie because they're both fans of the franchise.

and that he dies in cryo because of him already being sick.

but I could be wrong. lol

@BigDave

The Last Supper Prologue definitely sets the table for how the crew interacts. Crudup and Ejogo definitely seem like the uptight ones who dislike McBride and Seimetz's characters, which in the trailer explains the tension with the backburster scene with the women on opposite sides of the door. Crudup also seems like he is the odd man out in terms of getting along with everyone, could explain his motives for possibly sabotaging Franco's cryotube? Lol

@Shasta cyclone

That is a very good explanation that very well could be truth. I hope it's not, but it's a very good theory.

@Shasta - that may be the case however when I read the same excerpt, I kind of took it that the writer just wrote him off (figuratively speaking) as "dead" because they didn't see anymore of him on the visit.  I didn't take it as literally dead.   

the quote I saw read like this

" At the beginning of the film, they just lost their captain so the chain of command is challenged and anybody that is trying to make a career in the military yearn for more"

that was in the Demian Bichir interview.