20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios) had just become home to the hottest sci-fi franchise in Hollywood in the late 1970s with “Star Wars” when it unexpectedly found itself the proud parent of a second, scarier, much more adult series in “Alien.” The brainchild of legendary genre screenwriter Dan O’Bannon (and directed to stylish perfection by Ridley Scott), “Alien” jolted audiences with its chest-burster scare and kept them utterly terrified until Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley expelled the big, acid-blooded xenomorph into deep space.
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When “Alien” became a box office smash, Fox knew there was more money to be mined from these sleek black buggers. Indeed, that was at the heart of James Cameron’s famous pitch for “Aliens,” where, legend has it, he scribbled the word “Alien” down on a cocktail napkin before adding a dollar sign as the “s.” While Cameron delivered the goods and then some with his sequel, the franchise has had its ups and downs since then. David Fincher’s “Alien 3” eschewed the roller coaster thrills of its predecessor for a dour trilogy capper that ended with Ripley sacrificing herself for the good of humankind. It’s a great movie (whether you watch the theatrical cut or opt for the assembly cut), but it was not what audiences were looking for in a big, heavily hyped summer movie.
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The problem the “Alien” franchise keeps running up against is that its first installment is one of the greatest, most influential sci-fi/horror films ever made. As a result, it inspires directors to make something worthy of Scott’s masterpiece rather than knock out a pulpy “Alien vs. Predator” flick. When Scott returned to the series with “Prometheus,” he envisioned a thematically hefty trilogy of movies about a malevolent droid named David (Michael Fassbender) who seeks to evolve the xenomorphs through experimentation.
There’s nothing wrong with going the pulp-trash route with “Alien,” but masters like Scott, Cameron, and Fincher have proven that there’s plenty of meat on these films’ bones for directors to dig into if they so choose. So while I enjoyed Fede Álvarez’s “Alien: Romulus” for what it was, I’m far more excited about Noah Hawley’s “Alien: Earth,” the series premiering on FX later this year. What’s the Primetime Emmy Award-winning TV maestro up to? Here’s what we know so far.
Who is in Alien: Earth?
Sydney Chandler, daughter of “Friday Night Lights” star Kyle Chandler, leads an impressive ensemble that’s chock full of familiar faces and some not quite as familiar names. Obviously, the series’ second lead needs no introduction. Landing Timothy Olyphant, who’s been an FX good luck charm since he sauntered into the role of quick-draw lawman Raylan Givens in “Justified” 15 years ago, is huge for Hawley (as is getting the star to dye his hair shock white as seen in the above image). The cast is rounded out by Alex Lawther (“Andor”), Essie Davis (“Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries”), Samuel Blenkin (“Peaky Blinders”), Adarsh Gourav (sensational in Ramin Bahrani’s frustratingly underseen “The White Tiger”), and Kit Young (“Shadow and Bone”).
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Where in the franchise timeline is Alien: Earth set?
Oh, “Alien” timeline, how you amaze and confound. Actually, it’s not that complicated. It’s just weird that, to date, the installment that takes place furthest into the future (2381 to be exact) is 1997’s underwhelming “Alien: Resurrection,” which, if nothing else, features Weaver having a ball as a cloned Ripley who shares DNA with a xenomorph. I may not be a huge fan of the movie, but as a longtime “Alien” fan, I would certainly try to figure out a narrative with nü-Ripley, if only to give the character a more fitting send-off.
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In any event, “Alien: Earth” is set in the nearish-future of 2120, which places it 31 years ahead of “Prometheus” and a scant six years ahead of “Alien: Covenant.” As for the other, non “AVP” entries in the series, “Alien” is set in 2122, followed by “Alien: Romulus” in 2142, “Aliens” in 2179 and “Alien 3” in the same year. This means Hawley’s show, depending on how long it lasts, should lead directly into “Alien,” perhaps ending with the crew of the Nostromo receiving their orders to drop in on LV-426.
What is the plot of Alien: Earth?
Plot details of “Alien: Earth” were kept under wraps for close to five years, but with the premiere fast approaching, FX has finally tipped its hand ever so slightly to let fans know what cards Hawley and executive producer Scott have dealt themselves. It’s intriguing stuff!
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Hawley’s series is set on an Earth that is ruled by five separate corporations: Prodigy, Lynch, Dynamic, Threshold and, yes, Weyland-Yutani. The planet is populated by humans, advanced androids (AI), and cyborgs (humans outfitted with machine parts), but this balance is about to be upset by Prodigy’s invention of hybrids, which are humanoid robots imbued with human consciousness. Chandler’s Wendy is the first hybrid, and she finds herself at the forefront of a terrifying discovery when a deep space research ship, the USCSS Maginot, crash lands on Earth. What’s on the ship? FX ain’t saying for now, but I think you can guess.
We’ve already been informed that the series will feature five monsters, but what I’m most interested in is where the Maginot has been, and who it might have come into contact with. Basically, I need to know, and dearly want to believe, that the Maginot hooked up with the David-piloted Covenant — which, if we’re lucky, means we could see that beautiful, “Lawrence of Arabia”-loving android again. Fingers crossed!
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Who is making Alien: Earth?
Noah Hawley got his start in Hollywood as a writer on the hit Fox procedural “Bones,” but he vaulted himself onto the television A-list with his remarkably effective first season of “Fargo” for FX. The success of “Fargo” allowed Hawley to cut loose with the bonkers Marvel series “Legion” and take a crack at his first feature with the failed Natalie Portman vehicle “Lucy in the Sky.” Hawley’s got a boundless imagination, but sometimes that gets him into trouble (I’ve rarely seen a show veer from inspired to tedious, sometimes in the same episode, as violently as “Legion”).
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Ridley Scott is the other big name on “Alien: Earth,” and I want to believe the 87-year-old genius has been able to work elements from his unmade third David movie into this series. But the man does have a lot of irons in the fire (he’s currently shooting the dystopian sci-fi project “The Dog Stars” at Cinecittà Studios in Rome). Looking over the writing credits for the series eight episodes, Hawley has brought on veteran scribe Bob DeLaurentis (who wrote on Bruce Paltrow’s late 1970s basketball drama “The White Shadow,” while more recently contributing to “The Umbrella Academy”), Bobak Esfarjani (“WandaVision”), Lisa Long (“The Terminal List”), Maria Melnik (“American Gods”), and Migizi Pensoneau (the terrific “Reservation Dogs”). That’s a wildly diverse list of writers, and this just makes me more amped to see what Hawley is up to.
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When does Alien: Earth premiere?
“Alien: Earth” will drop its first two episodes on August 12 at 8 PM ET on Hulu and FX. Subsequent episodes will premiere each Tuesday at the same time. So far, this is all we know about our next trip into that terrifying universe where no one can hear you scream.
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