Introduction

There is a particular canonical issue often being debated within the fanbase regarding whether or not Charles Bishop Weyland (played by Lance Henriksen) from Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Sir Peter Weyland (played by Guy Pearce) from Prometheus (2012) are actually biologically related, representing the relationship of father and son (or uncle and nephew as some would argue), and in the following article I would like to address this very issue and see if there is a reasonable case to be made for this argument. There is also a separate but related debate as to whether or not the two characters even exist within the same continuity and I will partially address that here as well, but for the full picture I recommend the following article; Exploring Canonicity in the Alien, Predator, Alien vs. Predator, and Prometheus Universe

Evidence #1: Consistent Timeline

If these two characters had not been related or had actually existed within separate continuities then you could expect to see contradictions in the timelines of each character, but there are no genuine contradictions to be found.

Judging by the age of the actor behind the character, Lance Henriksen, Charles was likely born around the 1950's while Peter is stated by the official Weyland Industries Corporate Timeline (a promotional website for Prometheus) as having been born on October 1st, 1990, and so this is obviously consistent with what you would expect if the former is the parent and the latter is the child, so there is certainly no genuine contradiction to be found here.

Some also like to point out the fact that Peter founded Weyland Corporation/Weyland Industries in 2012 whereas Charles founded the very same company sometime between 1950 and 2004, and they then argue that this must surely be a considerable contradiction, and on the surface it certainly seems to be until you are reminded that there was an eight year gap between Charles death in 2004 and Peter rising to power in 2012, and that's a considerable amount of time during which literally anything could have happened that could have lead to the company either disintegrating, becoming dormant, or receiving new leadership with the intention to rejuvenate the company and downplay its previous history for whatever reasons.

Regardless, the point is that this is not a genuine contradiction as much as it is a strange curiosity, and had the intent been to actually present a contradictory account of the foundation of the company then its foundation should at least have occurred sometime while Charles was still alive and still operating as founder and CEO of the same company, and the foundation of the company should not have been placed at a date when it's fully possible to be interpreted as a second iteration of the very same company and existing in succession to it.

Some also argue that the two versions of the company featured in Alien vs. Predator and Prometheus can't be the same because they have different names, with the former being labeled "Weyland Industries" and the latter "Weyland Corporation". This one is easily refuted as the version of the company seen in Alien vs. Predator is not only commonly labeled as Weyland Industries, but the introduction to the film featuring the PS12 satellite actually states that the company also goes under the name of Weyland Corporation.

Not only that, but the version of the company seen in Prometheus is not only commonly labeled as Weyland Corporation, but it is also often labeled as Weyland Industries. This means that both versions of the company shares the two labels "Weyland Industries" and "Weyland Corporation", and this could easily be interpreted as them representing two different iterations of the very same company. Noting that even if there were two different titles involved, then it could still be easily interpreted as one company existing in succession to the other, considering Peter didn't found his iteration until eight years after Charles' death.

Evidence #2: Mystery Parents

The Weyland Industries Corporate Timeline states that Peter was born to an Oxford-educated Professor of Comparative Mythology and a self-taught engineer, and considering these two characters are strangely never properly identified and one of the parents is described as a self-taught engineer, just like Charles, it seems even more plausible that a relationship between Charles and Peter could exist but hasn't been properly acknowledged as of yet. If the intention wasn't to connect Charles and Peter to each other or at least allow for that interpretation to be made then they would never have left the identities of Peter's parents a mystery nor describe them as being compatible with Charles.

Evidence #3: Lung Cancer

It is interesting to note that Charles suffered from lung cancer during his expedition to Antarctica on October 10, 2004, while Peter secured a method patent for a synthetic trachea on October 1st, 2004, an invention which is precisely designed to be able to cure lung cancer of all things, and one may wonder why Peter Weyland was so keen on curing lung cancer during the same time when Charles Weyland was suffering from the very same illness.

Evidence #4: Identical Offices

Charles Weyland mentioned to Max Stafford that given 40 more years his company would be able to open a branch in a moon base on the Sea of Tranquility, and interestingly enough several of the locations where Charles owned property were also home to Peter's major offices, including the Sea of Tranquility and even Antarctica. But with Charles being on his death bed it seems certain that he would have appointed somebody else to lead the company to its interstellar destiny, thus paving the way for that great leader once they rise to power. Noting that this relative of Charles Weyland and heir to the throne even appears in the 2005 video game Predator: Concrete Jungle and evidently remained intentionally unidentified in order to be compatible with the cinematic reveal of the next Weyland family member and leader of the company. Admittedly it seems odd to paint the picture that Peter followed in the footsteps of Charles if that was never the intention.

Evidence #5: Artificial Intelligence

In Alien vs. Predator, a Scientific American magazine labels Charles Weyland as the "pioneer of modern robotics", and considering Peter Weyland's great interest in the same field, leading to the invention of his impressive (and problematic) David series of androids, this further adds to the plausibility of Peter having inherited similar interests from Charles as his mentor. Adding that Paul W.S. Anderson, director of Alien vs. Predator, confirmed that the Bishop model of androids from Aliens was designed (by Michael Bishop Weyland from Alien 3) in the likeness and memory of Charles Bishop Weyland (also noting Karl Bishop Weyland from the 2010 video game Aliens vs. Predator).

On this topic, Paul Anderson stated in an interview with IGN; "The role was written for him. I wanted some casting continuity with the Alien franchise even though it is set 100 years after our movie. The only person that could be was Lance. He, of course, was an android in the other movies. That was the idea behind that. I thought it was kind of a neat idea … I wanted to use the Weyland-Yutani Corporation in some respect. So the idea is that Charles Bishop Weyland is like Bill Gates, but his area of expertise is robotics. He's made his money in high tech and he's like the father of modern robotics. So that when the Bishop android is created in 150 years time, it's created with the face of the creator. It's kind of like Microsoft building an android in 100 years time that has the face of Bill Gates. The idea with Weyland is that his character is a man who is dying and like a lot of rich men who are facing the end, they realize that money and power aren't enough. What they want to do is leave something behind. So it's kind of like his longing for immortality that precipitates a lot of the events in this film, but also explains why his corporation would build something with his face."

Evidence #6: Father Issues

In both Prometheus and its sequel Covenant, Peter clearly seems to exhibit issues relating to fatherhood and authority and subsequently passed on these same concerns unto his David 8 android, and the films never account for the reason behind this. However, the film and novelization of Alien vs. Predator may provide the reason in that Charles being characterized as very self-absorbed and almost addicted to expanding and elevating his own fame and the fame of his company to new heights, even to the detriment of his own health, and this could very likely have had a very negative impact on young Peter, especially if he sought to connect with a father figure who viewed himself in an almost divine and almighty manner.

Adding that the novelization also mentions Charles as having grown up without a mother and with a succession of nannies and a cold agnostic father, lacking belief in the divine and instead idolized his own human achievements (much like Peter), and Charles (like Peter, arguably) took over his father's company and rejuvenated it into Weyland Corporation/Weyland Industries. Such a negative experience of his father might quite likely have even led Peter to ignore his father's achievements and history with the company and virtually erase him from memory while taking on the same idolized role as his father, which eventually carried over to the David 8 android and his desire to see his father dead and become a "god" of his own. It is ironic even that both Charles and Peter would die during a sickly and elderly state at the hands of the very alien "gods" they sought to come into contact with, for the sake of carrying on their great legacy and find some ultimate purpose and meaning to their existence and all their great endeavours and finally achieve immortality.

Evidence #7: Acknowledgement During Production

During the production of Prometheus and the establishing of the story centered around Peter Weyland, writer Damon Lindelof mentioned the character of Charles Weyland from Alien vs. Predator, to which director Ridley Scott responded with a sense of annoyance. After being asked in an interview with Crave Online that "You said nothing is an accidental reference, so is there a possible intentional Alien vs. Predator reference in that the Weylands are always seeking eternal life?", Lindelof responded saying "You mean in terms of Charles Bishop Weyland? Look, as to what’s canon and what’s not canon, for me as a screenwriter it’s transcended by Ridley as a director [and note how this does not mean Scott decides what is canon, but it highlights a difference in rank and authority, and it's primarily Lindelof sharing his personal thoughts]. Here’s the thing. Ridley invented this. He created this Alien universe. He birthed it out of his own heart and soul. So he gets to do whatever it is he wants to do and he wanted to use Weyland as a conduit in the story, and was not interested at all when I said to him, “You know, Weyland was a character in one of the Alien vs. Predator movies,” he just sort of looked at me like I had just slapped him in the face. That was the beginning, middle and end of all Alien vs. Predator references in our story process [and please note again how this naturally does not mean that some references didn't slip through, and do not misunderstand that merely ignoring a film does not translate into the film being rendered non-canonical, and noting that Predators from 2010 did the same thing despite being canonical to Alien vs. Predator]." (See; Fundamental Mysteries: Damon Lindelof on Prometheus)

This is of course interesting to note seeing as 20th Century Fox were quite adamant to actually connect Prometheus not only to Aliens but also to Predator and Alien vs. Predator through media such as the Fire and Stone and Life and Death crossover comics between 2014 and 2018, serving as a direct official tie-in to the 2012 film and referencing the other Alien, Predator, and Alien vs. Predator films, further establishing the shared continuity between these brands.

However, even though this demonstrates Scott's negative or careless attitude towards Alien vs. Predator (even though he has never actually seen the films), this also proves that there was some sense of respect and awareness present of Alien vs. Predator and Charles Weyland during the production of Prometheus and the creation of Peter Weyland due to how somebody thought it worthwhile to bring up, while stating that nothing is done without intention, and this could further indicate a deliberate attempt for there to be ambiguous connections between Charles and Peter present in the promotional material being produced, as they seem to allow for very clear connections between the characters to be made while at the same time avoiding to outright acknowledge it. With this in mind, whatever they established as the background for the character of Peter Weyland they obviously did that with intention, and so to argue that Scott's negative opinions on Alien vs. Predator has any real weight in regards to the production of Prometheus and canonical issues would really signify shooting yourself in the foot.

Adding to this, some people also like to argue that Scott actually decides what is canon within the Alien franchise, but this is obviously not true because it's not his property but it belongs to 20th Century Fox (and Disney), and Scott also acknowledged during a San Diego Comic Con panel (although by still implying his own negative opinion on Alien vs. Predator, a film which he apparently have yet to watch and therefore cannot fairly criticize) that he ultimately answers to Fox in regards to what he does with their property, and Fox once more seem very much keen on retaining connections between the Alien vs. Predator and Prometheus brands to this very day and probably won't ever allow him to deal with the franchise as he would see fit. Scott notably stated "Um, I got to be careful what I say because I actually have a very nice relationship with 20th Century Fox."

Conclusion

It almost seems as though Charles and Peter really does exist as two people of the same bloodline (both in flesh and spirit), one in succession to the other, with character traits, skills, and interests being passed along from generation to generation. Judging by the case presented here, one could arguably make the assumption that they do indeed share a history together, and that they are indeed father and son for lack of a better term.

Now, I'm not arguing that this is actually the case, but given the evidence provided, there seems to be no real reason why we shouldn't conclude this, and to all intents and purposes they do seem to be related, and fans can't be blamed for intuitively interpreting the two characters this way. They even appear to share physical characteristics. I'm also definitely not the first to point all this out, as various portions of the fanbase would demonstrate.

However, even given that a relatively strong case can be made in favor of the argument that Charles Weyland and Peter Weyland are actually blood relatives, there is no doubt that this debate will never settle, but it will likely keep going on as no definitive statement is made officially either way, and fans will always seek to settle with the option they feel works best according to their own opinion and personal preference. Regardless, whichever option one decides to go along with, one still can't argue that there is any genuine contradiction between these two characters because there are none to be found anywhere.

But if you were to ask me, I would say that, objectively speaking, it's extremely easy to connect the two characters and it would only be reasonable to accept them as family, and ultimately I think that decision would be for the best in order to cultivate peace and unity not only in the franchise but also in the fanbase as well. It sure is much better than to cultivate division and conflict. Bottom line, there is a rather strong case to be made for the common argument that Charles Bishop Weyland and Peter [Bishop] Weyland are actually blood relatives in terms of father and son. Now all we need is just an official confirmation of this interpretation in some future product.