Alien: Earth’s Hero Is a New Type of “Hybrid” (But What Does That Mean?)

Alien: Earth is set for a landing on FX and Hulu in August, and with it, we’ll see a new heroine attempt to survive and stop the spread of the xenomorphs before the entire planet is overrun. But don’t expect this story to just be a copy of Ellen Ripley’s experience on the Nostromo. For one, the story brings the action to Earth, so there’s little chance any of the characters to just launch the alien into space and win the day. Also, don’t expect Sydney Chandler’s hybrid Wendy to act like your typical heroine. This is a new type of robotic hybrid in a world where corporations control the planet, and they might be worse than the xenomorphs by the time the show premieres.

Chandler and creator Noah Hawley spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the series, Chandler’s hybrid character, and where the actress sees her place among the franchise’s other heroes. These hybrids are owned by the Prodigy corporation, a rival to Weyland-Yutani and one of five corporations holding power over the entire globe.

“Let’s just say the climate predictions are coming true. It’s a hotter, wetter planet,” Hawley tells the outlet. “If we just extrapolate where we are now, it’s driven much more by corporations than democracies. It’s very much wrapped up in a competition for technological superiority. The nature of power is, ‘In the end, there can be only one.’ So we’re in the middle of a battle on that level for who has the power in the human race.”

The hybrids play a part in this struggle, with Wendy arriving with other hybrids to investigate the site of a crashed Weyland-Yutani ship in Prodigy City. These hybrids stand different than other types of robots and cyborgs we’ve seen in the franchise before Alien: Earth. The hybrids are exclusive property of the Prodigy corporation as exclusive IP, painting a picture where we’ve moved on from a new phone each year to having companies push out new versions of robots like the latest iPhone. A big difference with the hybrids, though, is that they have a child’s brain in their adult robot body.

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“We started working with the mechanics of how these kids would move physically, and Noah took us more into the mindset space,” Chandler tells EW. “What is the essence of a kid or a young adult? How do their minds work differently than the adult mind? Kids are so present and they haven’t been battered by the world as much as an adult. So they trust their gut and they don’t second guess.”

Hawley cites Ripley’s quote from Aliens where she says she doesn’t know which species is worse, humans or the xenomorphs, as important to his story.

“I don’t know which species is worse. You don’t see them f—ing each other over for a goddamn percentage,” Weaver says in the film, getting some sparks flying in Hawley’s neurons.

“This idea of the horrible things that we do to each other,” the creator adds. “Sydney plays a somewhat innocent character who finds herself trying to navigate two kinds of monsters. One is human and the other is from outer space. We do expand on that idea that it’s going to be up to the audience which species is worse.”

For Chandler, she’s just hopeful that fans can see how her character is fresh for the series while not affecting the quality of the story.

“I don’t even want to try to compare my character with Ripley,” Chandler said. “That’s just impossible to do. But I hope people like Wendy as much as I love her … She’s my favorite character that I’ve ever been able to play.”

Alien: Earth premieres on FX and Hulu on Tuesday, August 12, with two episodes leading the premiere and a new episode following every week. Will you be tuning in? Let us know in the comments.