Alien: Earth Could Answer a 46-Year-Old Franchise Question

Noah Hawley’s upcoming FX series, Alien: Earth, is set to expand the iconic sci-fi horror universe by bringing the xenomorph threat directly to humanity’s home turf. The highly anticipated show, created by the mind behind Fargo and Legion, will make its debut on August 12th on FX and Hulu. The story is set in the year 2120, a near-future where society is dominated by a handful of powerful corporations, and promises a complex story mixing corporate intrigue with visceral horror. Against this dire backdrop, Alien: Earth introduces new key players, including Wendy (Sydney Chandler), an advanced synthetic hybrid developed by Prodigy Corporation, a major competitor to the infamous Weyland-Yutani.

The main plot of Alien: Earth is triggered by a Weyland-Yutani deep space vessel, the USCSS Maginot, crashing directly into a major city on Earth. In response, Prodigy Corporation dispatches Wendy with a tactical team to investigate the wreckage and salvage any valuable technology from their rival. What they uncover inside the ship is far more dangerous than corporate secrets, as Maginot was transporting a variety of invasive alien species, including the instantly recognizable facehuggers. This incident places a xenomorph outbreak on Earth just two years before the events of the original Alien film. As a result, the specific timing of the show means it is perfectly positioned to provide a concrete answer to a major franchise question that has remained unresolved for 46 years.

The Lingering Mystery of Weyland-Yutani’s Special Order 937

In Ridley Scott’s 1979 film, Alien, the crew of the commercial towing vessel Nostromo is awakened from hypersleep by the ship’s computer, Mother. As they find out, Mother has detected a mysterious signal and has rerouted them to investigate its source on the moon LV-426. Following their protocol, a team descends to the surface and discovers a derelict alien ship containing thousands of leathery eggs. However, the mission goes horribly wrong when Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt) is attacked by a creature that latches onto his face. Against Ripley’s (Sigourney Weaver) orders, he is brought back on board, leading to the xenomorph being unleashed upon the ship.

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As the crew is hunted down, Ripley seeks answers from the ship’s computer and makes a horrifying discovery about their science officer, Ash (Ian Holm). As it turns out, Ash is an android who has been secretly following a command from Weyland-Yutani, Special Order 937. This directive instructed him to ensure the xenomorph organism was returned to the company for analysis by its bio-weapons division. The order also explicitly stated, “Crew expendable.” This confirmed that the company knew about the organism on LV-426 and intentionally sent the Nostromo and its crew to retrieve it. Yet, neither the film nor its sequels explains how Weyland-Yutani obtained this knowledge.

Alien: Earth Can Finally Connect the Dots

Alien: Earth could provide a direct explanation for Weyland-Yutani’s actions. The series’ trailer already shows that Weyland-Yutani was capturing and transporting xenomorphs at least two years before the Nostromo was diverted to LV-426. It’s still uncertain how and when the crashed USCSS Maginot first collected the xenomorph samples, but since the ship was on a mission to catalogue different invasive alien species, Alien: Earth will likely explore Weyland-Yutani’s fascination with dangerous creatures. At the very least, the impact of the vessel on Earth would have served as the corporation’s first uncontrolled and catastrophic encounter with the xenomorph, giving Weyland-Yutani detailed data on how deadly it was, which would, of course, feed the greed of the company’s weapons division.

Armed with the knowledge gained from the Maginot incident, Weyland-Yutani’s mission in the original Alien is no longer a mysterious gamble. The biological signal detected on LV-426 would have been recognized as a second chance to acquire the valuable asset they had already encountered and lost. Furthermore, this prior knowledge explains why they would go to such extreme lengths, including planting an android among the crew and issuing the ruthless Special Order 937. The new series can therefore show exactly how the entire tragedy Ripley endured occurred due to Weyland-Yutani’s unethical research endeavors.

How do you think the events on Alien: Earth will directly influence the company’s ruthless pursuit of the xenomorph in the original film? Let us know in the comments.