In 1979, director Ridley Scott and writers Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett introduced fans to the iconic heroine of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley and a new kind of space terror that would eventually launch one of the biggest sci-fi horror franchises ever. Over the years, several filmmakers, including James Cameron, David Fincher, and Fede Álvarez have expanded the Alien universe. Entries into the franchise have included sequels, prequels, and even a couple of crossovers with the Predator movies. Emmy Award winner Noah Hawley (FX’s Fargo, Legion) decided it was time to bring the world of Alien close to home for the first time with FX’s prequel series, Alien: Earth, which is set two years before the original film and has premiered to rave reviews.
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Alien: Earth Episode 1, “Neverland,” and Episode 2, “Mr. October,” aired on FX on Tuesday night and also began streaming simultaneously on Hulu and Disney+.
Alien: Earth is set in the year 2120, where the Earth is governed by five mega-corporations: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic, and Threshold. The official synopsis explains that in this era, “cyborgs (humans with both biological and artificial parts) and synthetics (humanoid robots with artificial intelligence) exist alongside humans. But the game is changed when the wunderkind Founder and CEO of Prodigy Corporation unlocks a new technological advancement: hybrids (humanoid robots infused with human consciousness).” The show’s protagonist, “Wendy” (Sydney Chandler), is the first hybrid prototype made from the consciousness of a terminally ill young girl. More hybrid beings, known as the “Lost Boys,” are created, all fatally sick human children whose consciousnesses are transferred into adult android bodies. Their lives are forever changed when a Weyland-Yutani research vessel, the USCSS Maginot, carrying dangerous alien lifeforms, crash-lands in a city owned by Prodigy.
“Alien: Earth manages to succeed where so many other television spinoffs of film franchises often fail: it finds a way to justify its long-form format,” ComicBook’s Kofi Outlaw wrote in his review. “The series is smartly paced across its eight-episode run; slower stretches of character development and world-building segue smoothly into several key arcs of action-horror that feel on par with the feature films. FX doesn’t side-step the production demands: the set pieces, costumes, creatures, and overall visual effects feel cinematic when required, even if other scenes of dialogue or development use more budgeted means like blue screen backgrounds to save on budget. If nothing else, Alien: Earth is proof of concept that the franchise “works” in the TV format.
“As with any long-form TV series that’s built off a movie, there are inevitable points of lag in Alien: Earth, or subplots that just don’t carry the same gravitas as others,” Outlaw continued. “Luckily, Hawley keeps the majority of the screen time where it needs to be focused: on the peril that is either already happening or about to strike. He is especially adept at creating compelling sci-fi concepts to explore. That includes Wendy, the Lost Boys, and their evolution from children into advanced androids, or the choice to make the new alien creatures characters in and of themselves, with a surprising amount of scenes dedicated to their… “point of view.” Those sequences are wonderfully weird and creepy, even if they ironically reduce the xenomorphs to being the least interesting feature of the show. Clearly, Hawley was disappointed that a franchise called Alien hadn’t done more with creature concepts. Finally, amidst the thrills and horror, there’s a good amount of mystery spread out across the series, resulting in some fun ways to play with the timeline, and/or drop twist reveals in later episodes.”
Cast & Crew
Led by Chandler (Sugar, Don’t Worry Darling), daughter of Emmy winner Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights), Alien: Earth also stars Emmy nominee Timothy Olyphant (Justified, Deadwood, FX’s Fargo), Samuel Blenkin (Black Mirror), Babou Ceesay (Into the Badlands), Alex Lawther (The End of the F***ing World), Adrian Edmondson (EastEnders), David Rysdahl (No Exit), Essie Davis (The Babadook), Lily Newmark (Solo: A Star Wars Story), Erana James (The Wilds), Adarsh Gourav (The White Tiger), Jonathan Ajayi (Vigil), Kit Young (Shadow and Bone), Diêm Camille (Washington Black), Moe Bar-El (The Bureau), and Sandra Yi Sencindiver (Foundation).
Scott is an executive producer on the series, along with David W. Zucker (The Good Wife), Joseph Iberti (HBO’s Watchmen), Dana Gonzales (Fargo), and Clayton Krueger (Dope Thief). The show’s writers include Hawley, Robert De Laurentiis, Bobak Esfarjani, Lisa Long, Maria Melnik, and Migiz Pensoneau, with Hawley, Gonzales, and Ugla Hauksdóttir directing.
How to Watch
New episodes of Alien: Earth will air on FX every Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET and will also be available to stream concurrently on Hulu and Disney+. The remaining episodes will air through September 23rd, when the season finale, Episode 8 “The Real Monsters,” drops.
The Alien movie franchise is also available to stream on Hulu and Disney+.
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