Summary
It would seem like a no-brainer to put aliens in anAlienTV show, but the premise and timeframe of FX’s upcomingAlienseriesAlien: Earthwould suggest otherwise – and that has me worried.Alien: Earthis the brainchild ofFargocreator Noah Hawley, who apparently didn’t find turning one untouchable cinematic masterpiece into a TV show to be daunting enough and is now taking another crack at it.Alien: Earthwill take the franchise to humanity’s homeworld of Earth for the first time (outside of theAlien vs. Predatormovies, whose canonical status is debatable).
Alien: Earthis set three decades before the events ofRidley Scott’s originalAlienmovie. Whereas the film takes place in 2122, the TV show will take place in the early 2090s.This timeline and the fact that the show is set on Earth make it unlikely that xenomorphs will appearinAlien: Earth. And I’m worried about that, because what isAlienwithout xenomorphs? It would be like doing aJawsseries without a shark or anExorcistseries without demonic spirits. Without the xenomorphs,Alienis just an indictment of corporate America set in the distant future.
Alien: Earth’s Timeline & Setting Make It Hard To Include Xenomorphs
It’s set on Earth around the time of Prometheus
The fact thatAlien: Earthis set on Earth (hence the very creative title) and it takes place around the same time asPrometheus, which chronicled the creation of xenomorphs in deep space, makes it unlikely that xenomorphs will make an appearance in the upcoming TV series. In the originalAlienfilm,the Nostromo’s corporate overlords secretly enlist Ash to bring the xenomorph back to Earth, suggesting that the xenomorphs haven’t come to Earth yet. And that’s three decades afterAlien: Earthtakes place.
None of the announced characters intheAlien: Earthcastare xenomorph-adjacent. Sydney Chandler will star as Wendy, a woman who has the body of an adult but the consciousness of a child, alongside Alex Lawther as a soldier named C.J., Samuel Blenkin as a powerful CEO named Boy Kavalier, and Timothy Olyphant as Wendy’s synth mentor, Kirsh. Nothing about these character descriptions suggests the involvement of xenomorphs. It sounds more like a straightforward dystopian futuristic drama. The only thing that will connect this series to theAlienfranchise is tangential lore connections like the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.
Alien: Earthis expected to premiere in the first half of 2025.
Alien: Earth Doesn’t Necessarily Need Xenomorphs In Order To Be Good
If the characters and storylines are compelling enough, the lack of xenomorphs won’t matter
Just becauseAlien: Earthwill be a standard TV drama set in a dystopian future without featuring bloodthirsty xenomorphs, it doesn’t mean it’ll be a bad show.If the characters and their storylines are compelling enough, then it’ll workjust as well as any other TV show. It does make it seem pointless to use theAlienlore and theAlienuniverse if the showrunner isn’t planning to include any xenomorphs on-screen. But a big-budget sci-fi series is more likely to get made if the studio bankrolling it can count on brand recognition to bring in a hefty initial audience.
Hawley has demonstrated his ability to craft captivating narratives around lovable characters inhis five seasons ofFargo(or, at least, the first, second, and fifth seasons, when the show achieved true greatness). He can do it again in a futuristic setting withAlien: Earth. There’s a lot of storytelling potential in theAlienuniverse outside of the aliens themselves.Weyland-Yutani’s history of corporate greed and corruption could make for a really chilling satire of capitalismand humanity’s lust for power.Alien: Earthdoesn’t need xenomorphs for a story worth telling (but it would help).
How Alien: Earth Can Feature Xenomorphs (Without Breaking Canon)
Alien: Earth could create its own xenomorphs
Although it could still be a compelling series without xenomorphs,Alien: Earthwould certainly benefit from featuring at least one xenomorph. And it would be possible forAlien: Earthto feature xenomorphs without breaking canon – Hawley and co. just have to get creative with it.Alien: Covenantintroduced a new kind of xenomorph,dubbed the neomorph, to get around the fact that it was a prequel and couldn’t just jump into showing a full-blown xenomorph in all its glory.Alien: Earthcould do something similar, introducing a sort of proto-xenomorph.
Weyland-Yutani could take a crack at creating its own synthetic xenomorphsbefore sending the crew of the Nostromo to capture an organic one. The events of the originalAlienfilm might be Plan B. If they can create an android that’s indistinguishable from a real human being, then they can surely create a bloodthirsty killing machine.Alien: Earthmight revolve around the company’s disastrous attempts to create and contain its own xenomorphs.
Alien
Cast
Alien is a television adaptation of the sci-fi horror franchise initially created by Ridley Scott, with the show being helmed by Noah Hawley. Set before the original film’s events, Alien will tell a brand new story with an original cast of characters and be the first in the series set on Earth.
