Any of the many understandable concerns about bringing the Alien world to the small screen with Alien: Earth seem to be at least somewhat addressed by the early, wildly positive reviews for this Noah Hawley TV program. Not only that, but the first Alien: Earth reviews have suggested that the production especially excels in exploring storytelling and thematic territory that isn’t reminiscent of past Alien endeavors. If the general public’s response is similar to the critical reception, then Alien: Earth could be acclaimed enough to overhaul what people think is possible within this franchise.
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Between this and last year’s Alien: Romulus, critical raves have finally returned to the Alien franchise. That’s good news for long-time devotees of the saga, but it does confirm that the 2010s era of this franchise is well and truly done. With Romulus being a box office smash and Alien: Earth garnering raves, the Prometheus/Alien: Covenant era of Alien prequel material is officially finished.
What Was The Alien Prequel Era of Storytelling?
20th Century Fox has long struggled figuring out how to parlay the Alien brand name into further movies. After 1997’s Alien: Resurrection, the solution seemed to be putting those nasty Xenomorphs in two Alien vs. Predator movies. For the 2010s, the new M.O. for the saga was bringing back director Ridley Scott for further installments set in the past. Titles like Prometheus and Alien: Covenant were all about filling in the gaps in the Alien lore, including detailing who and what that “space jockey” was and revealing the origins of the Xenomorphs.
Scott openly expressed a desire to keep on making more Alien entries after Covenant, while, as late as fall 2017, former 20th Century Fox CEO Stacey Snider revealed that the studio was gung-ho about doing a follow-up to Covenant. That was just two months before Disney announced its intentions to buy News Corp. entertainment entities like 20th Century Fox. With that, a new era of Alien was on the horizon. Disney and the newly christened 20th Century Studios were now eager to hand off the franchise to new creative figures, like Fede Alvarez and Hawley.
With this shift, titles in this saga were no longer going back to the “vintage” time periods explored in the two Scott installments from the 2010s. Instead, Romulus followed up directly from the events of the first Alien. Rather than continuing to look backwards, the Alien saga was now eager to introduce new recurring characters who could carry this series into the future. With that, details about Alien lore were put on the back burner. The era of Prometheus and Covenant is officially at an end.
The Alien Saga Has Prestige Again
It isn’t just the emphasis on newer material and fresh creative voices that marks a new dawn for the Alien saga. Earth and Romulus have scored significantly better critical marks than either Alien vs. Predator installment or the various 90s Alien sequels. Even Scott’s two 2010s extensions of this franchise, though they both have significant cult followings, didn’t garner the kind of immediate rave reviews as Alien: Earth and Alien: Romulus. A new era of Alien storytelling in terms of general reception has also dawned.
With a Romulus follow-up on the way, further Earth seasons a very real possibility, and a potential Alien vs. Predator redo stewing, the Alien saga has tons of upcoming projects on the horizon. With this deluge of further installments, the days of Prometheus and Covenant will fall further and further into the past. Whatever lingering story threads involving those Michael Fassbender androids and Engineers that once captivated Ridley Scott are not getting revisited in the future. This franchise has moved on to other stories that can captivate a fresh generation of fans.
Perhaps the greatest signal that Alien is entering a fresh chapter, though, is that Ridley Scott recently said he’s no longer going to be involved in this franchise in a creative capacity. With the original Alien director no longer set to helm further entries in this saga, the ground has well and truly shifted for the Alien universe. Those glowing Alien: Earth reviews are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how a new era, radically different from the Alien saga plans in the 2010s, is upon us all.
Alien: Earth begins airing episodes weekly on August 12 on FX and Hulu.
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Image Courtesy of Big Finish Productions.
