The Alien franchise has proven it has a lot of life left in it, which also extends to the small screen. Fresh off the success of Alien: Romulus, FX’s upcoming series Alien: Earth takes viewers to cable TV in the long-running franchise that dates back to 1979. Fargo creator Noah Hawley helms the series for the network and their FX on Hulu lineup, and he’s looking to recapture the horror aspect of the franchise. Many would argue that the first Alien was a horror film, but the sequels slowly shed that feeling and tone. Romulus is a return to the series’ horror roots, and it sounds like Alien: Earth will be continuing that trend, according to Hawley in an interview with Deadline.
“There’s something about seeing a Xenomorph in the wilds of Earth with your own eyes that is truly chilling to think of it moving here among us. I can’t tell you under what circumstances you’ll see that, but you’ll see it, and you’re going to lock your door that night.”
Throughout the Alien franchise, most of the audience’s exposure to the Xenomorph has come in a claustrophobic spaceship or hallway. Hawley makes it sound like the aliens will be roaming around on their own in his series, just like any other wild animal would.
“What was really fun for me was to be able engage with the creature, bring some of my own thoughts to its design while not touching the silhouette, because that’s sacrosanct. But some of the elements of it, as we know, you know, whatever the host is, informs what the final creature is. You know, I just wanted to play around a little bit to make it as scary as I thought it can be.”
For a franchise that was thought to be dead since 2017’s Alien Covenant, it has proven it has quite a bit of life left in it, with both Romulus and Earth arriving in back-to-back years. Like Romulus, Hawley’s show will be squeezing into a spot on the timeline instead of blazing ahead as a sequel. Hawley also said the series could take up the next 10 years of his life, so multiple seasons could be in the cards depending on how audiences react.
Alien: Earth is Set Before the First Alien Movie
Don’t expect Alien: Earth to explore the mythology set in place by Romulus or any of the original quadrilogy as the show takes place three decades before the events of the first film. This means it likely won’t have any familiar characters to look forward to, but as seen in Romulus, the series has no problems using modern technology to bring actors back from the dead to reprise roles who could be alive during the time period.
The series follows a woman and a team of soldiers who find a ship that crash-lands on Earth, only to find it was carrying a Xenomorph. It’s an interesting concept because we see Earth later on in the series not overrun by aliens, so it would appear the problem was solved in some way. The only question is how it was solved, and how this event set the story that plays out in the original four films in motion. It’s a good time to be an Alien fan, and more so if you’re somebody who values the horror aspects of the series. You can take a look at the Alien: Earth teaser trailer below. The series is set to arrive in 2025.
