Noah Hawley’s Alien television series is already a hit, at least with critics. Set to premiere next week, Alien: Earth is currently sitting at a 90% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with thirty reviews. Critics are calling the series a “bold, character-driven” prequel, one that manages to be scary, fun, and thoughtful all at once. The FX series’ Rotten Tomatoes score is among the best for the series, coming in third after Alien and Aliens. The former, widely considered a cinema classic, has a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while the latter has a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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In Comicbook.com’s review of Alien: Earth, critic Kofi Outlaw praised the series’ mix of horror and sci-fi intrigue, stating, “The two-episode premiere is going to give fans plenty of reason to invest in Alien: Earth, initially, but it will be the doom-heavy intrigue (more so than the characters) that will keep them coming back for the rest… Alien: Earth is a strong indication that TV will be the final piece needed for the franchise to be firing on all platforms (movies, television, gaming, comics).”
Alien: Earth did beat the most recent Alien movie by a wide margin, coming in 10 points over 2024’s Alien: Romulus, which secured a Fresh rating of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes after 400 reviews from critics. The film, which was a box office success, was cited as injecting some much-needed fresh blood into the long-running franchise. The R-rated Alien installment earned $105.3 million domestically at the box office and $245.5 million internationally for a worldwide haul of $350.8 million. The movie was both a prequel and a sequel, with Romulus taking place between the events of 1979’s Alien and 1986’s Aliens. Alien: Earth, on the other hand, is a prequel to Alien, taking place two years before the events of that film.
Alien: Earth May Become One of the Best Entries in the Alien Canon
Alien: Earth is already ahead of the poorly received Alien 3, which has a Rotten rating of 44% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Alien Resurrection, which has a rating of 55%. As for other prequels in the Alien franchise, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, both performed a bit better than Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, with Prometheus earning a Fresh rating of 73% and Alien: Covenant earning a 65% rating.
Created by renowned writer and director Noah Hawley, Alien: Earth takes place in the year 2120 and focuses on a time when corporations, including Weyland-Yutani, control Earth and have advanced synthetic and cyborg technology. The show focuses on a mysterious spaceship that crash-lands on Earth, unleashing dangerous alien lifeforms on the planet and putting a young woman named Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and a group of tactical soldiers in a fight for survival against the deadly threats.
Alien: Earth is reportedly making some changes to the Alien canon, but critics don’t seem to mind. Hawley is known for pushing boundaries and tackling popular IP in a unique way, as seen in his FX Marvel series, Legion, and even the critically acclaimed Fargo. Now, with Alien: Earth, critics seem to think Hawley highlights the best parts of the long-running franchise, while still managing to expand upon the concepts that have been introduced over time and somehow still make them feel fresh.
Spanning eight episodes, Alien: Earth stars Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Timothy Olyphant, Essie Davis, Samuel Blenkin, Enzo Cilenti, and Dean Alexandrou. Alien: Earth will debut on FX on Tuesday, August 12th, it’ll also be available to stream on Hulu.
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