Before Alien: Earth, There’s Already A Xenomorph Show You Can Watch For Free

Ever since the first Alien movie release in 1979, fans have been obsessed with this franchise. It’s hard to get over the impact of the sci-fi/horror classic, and fans have been fortunate enough to get several films, not to mention short stories and even games. More recently, we’ve all been looking forward to the release of Alien: Earth. This upcoming series promises to be a prequel to the beloved first Alien movie, and that thought alone is probably enough to send chills down most spines. After all, we all know that whatever happened before Ripley and crew arrived could not have been good. That said, while we’re waiting on Alien: Earth, there’s another Alien series that we should be spending more time talking about.

Alien: Earth will be set before the events of Alien and star a wide array of actors, including Sydney Chandler, Timothy Olyphant, Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, and dozens of others. From the sounds of it, the stakes have never been so high, with the lethal xenomorphs setting their sights on a new target. It’s scheduled to begin releasing on FX and FX on Hulu on August 12th; however, before that release date arrives, there’s a different series available to fans, and that’s Alien: Isolation – The Digital Series.

What Is Alien: Isolation – The Digital Series?

Alien: Isolation – The Digital Series is, unsurprisingly, a series based on the classic Alien franchise. Unlike a lot of what we’re used to seeing, this series is entirely animated. That’s because it’s based on a video game of the same name, Alien: Isolation. That groundbreaking video game made fans fall in love, and if that wasn’t enough, the game won several awards, including the 2015 Game Developers’ Choice Awards.

Interestingly, Alien: Isolation – The Digital Series brought back many of the same voice actors from the game, allowing them to reprise their roles. That includes Andrea Deck, George Anton, Richie Campbell, Sean Gilder, William Hope, Anthony Howell, and many others. It was a detail that certainly made fans of the original game happy, to put it mildly.

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Before anyone asks, yes, Alien: Isolation – The Digital Series does include cut scenes from the game version. Some may consider that a clever use of resources, and it’s a great way for non-gamers to experience the story told in Alien: Isolation (alternatively, they can always watch a streamer play through the game). The show also used newly rendered scenes and filmed a few first-person segments from the game to create what was designed to be a cohesive story from start to end.

A Quest for Answers

Both iterations of Alien: Isolation are set around fifteen years after the events of Alien, so while they’re not a prequel, they do continue the story. The story follows Amanda Ripley, the daughter of the franchise’s favorite character. She’s on a quest to understand what happened to her mother, which brings her to a decaying space station. Obviously, that doesn’t bode well, no matter how one looks at it.

It all begins going wrong when the Weyland-Yutani corporation learns that a flight recorder survived whatever happened onboard the Nostromo. Naturally, a team is being sent to retrieve this recorder. Amanda is going to get answers about her mother; meanwhile, Nina Taylor of the legal division is more concerned about finding proof that the Nostromo disaster wasn’t Weyland-Yutani’s fault. Of course, the tale wouldn’t be complete without at least one android character, this time by the name of Christopher Samuels.

Much like her mother, Amanda quickly finds that nothing is quite what it seems. What should have been a simple retrieval mission rapidly becomes a battle for survival, as xenomorphs spring from the shadows and converge. The Ripley women are clearly made of sterner stuff, capable of making life-saving decisions with little time for consideration. There are a few other running themes that will feel familiar to fans, from the android plots to survivors and other little surprises. Given the relatively limited timeframe of the series, it’s impressive that they were able to fit in so much content.

All things said and done, there are seven episodes of Alien: Isolation – The Digital Series available to binge-watch. Each episode is between eight and fourteen minutes long, so admittedly, it’s not going to take binge-watchers too long to get through the entire series.

Alien: Isolation – The Digital Series is available to stream on YouTube. Alien: Earth will be available on both FX and FX on Hulu starting on August 12.