The Alien franchise, dormant since 2017’s Alien Covenant, is more alive than ever. We got the new feature film Alien: Romulus, directed by Fede Álvarez, and now there is an Alien TV series, officially titled Alien: Earth, coming to our screens soon by Fargo‘s Noah Hawley.
FX recently released a ton of new information about Alien: Earth, including its release date and a much more detailed plot synopsis. Among other things, we also go our first look at Timothy Olyphant in the Alien: Earth series. Olyphant will play Kirsh, “a synth who acts as a mentor and trainer for Chandler’s Wendy, who is a hybrid, a meta-human who has the brain and consciousness of a child but the body of an adult.”
We love Olyphant in basically everything he does, so we can’t wait to see him join the beloved Alien franchise.
Here’s everything we know so far about the upcoming Alien: Earth series, set for release on FX for Hulu.
Title
The official title for the series is Alien: Earth.
Alien: Earth’s Plot
The new series is a prequel to every iteration of the franchise so far, taking place in the year 2089. That’s about four years before Prometheus, and about thirty years before Ridley Scott’s film. Unlike previous films, Alien: Earth will take place on, well, Earth. It deals with the emergence of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, often referred to in the films as “the company.” In the later part of this century, Weyland-Yutani will be pioneering android intelligence, as we saw with Ash in the original film and Bishop in James Cameron’s Aliens.
The official synopsis for Alien: Earth shares:
When the mysterious deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot crash-lands on Earth, “Wendy” (Sydney Chandler) and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat in FX’s Alien: Earth.
In the year 2120, the Earth is governed by five corporations: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic and Threshold. In this Corporate 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 first hybrid prototype named “Wendy” marks a new dawn in the race for immortality. After Weyland-Yutani’s spaceship collides into Prodigy City, “Wendy” and the other hybrids encounter mysterious life forms more terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined.
Recently, Hawley spoke a little bit about the Xenomorphs we can expect in the Alien: Earth series. Hawley promises they will retain their iconic forms, but be more terrifying than ever before. He notes, “That is truly chilling to think of it moving here among us, and so I can’t tell you under what circumstances you’ll see that, but you’ll see it — and you’re going to lock your door that night.” Hawley further shared, “What was really fun for me was to really engage with the creature, bring some of my own thoughts to the design while not touching the silhouette, because that’s sacrosanct… But some of the elements, as we know, whatever the host is, informs what the final creature is. I just wanted to play around a little bit to make it as scary as it should be.” In addition to Xenomorphs, the series promises us five deadly species in total.
You can check out the latest Alien: Earth‘s teaser trailer below.
As an interesting aside, the new Alien ship on Alien: Earth has a name that breaks with franchise tradition. It doesn’t seem to reference the work of Heart of Darkness author Joseph Conrad, as most other ships in the universe have in the past. The name “Maginot” could instead be a reference to the Maginot Line, which was an elaborate construction of obstacles and fortifications put up by France in the early 1930s to deter Nazi Germany from invading. Of course, the Maginot Line did not hold and has come to symbolize the idea of engaging in extensive efforts to create a false sense of security. In fact, the official definition of “Maginot Line” reads: “a defensive barrier or strategy that inspires a false sense of security.”
Behind the Scenes
The new Alien series has quite a pedigree of talent behind it. Fargo and Legion creator Noah Hawley came up with this series and will also direct at least some of the episodes. Original Alien director Ridley Scott is an executive producer on the series. Alien: Earth is filming in both Thailand and the United Kingdom.
Alien: Earth’s Cast
Alien: Earth stars Sydney Chandler as a series lead, Alex Lawther as a soldier named CJ, and Samuel Blenkin as the mysterious CEO Boy Kavalier. Essie Davis is Dame Silvia, Adarsh Gourav as Slightly, and Kit Young as Tootles. Additionally, Timothy Olyphant has joined the cast as “Kirsh, a synth who acts as a mentor and trainer for Chandler’s Wendy, who is a hybrid, a meta-human who has the brain and consciousness of a child but the body of an adult.” Fargo‘s David Rysdahl has also come aboard in an undisclosed role, as has The Peripheral‘s Moe Bar-El, who will have a major recurring role on the season of the Alien series. Foundation‘s Sandra Yi Sencindiver, meanwhile, will play “a senior member of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation” in multiple episodes.
Babou Ceesay, Jonathan Ajayi, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Diêm Camille, and Adrian Edmondson round out the series casting.
In sum, here are is the full cast of Alien: Earth—Timothy Olyphant (“Kirsh”), Alex Lawther (“Hermit”), Samuel Blenkin (“Boy Kavalier”), Babou Ceesay (“Morrow”), Adrian Edmondson (“Atom Eins”), David Rysdahl (“Arthur Sylvia”), Essie Davis (“Dame Sylvia”), Lily Newmark (“Nibs”), Erana James (“Curly”), Adarsh Gourav (“Slightly”), Jonathan Ajayi (“Smee”), Kit Young (“Tootles”), Diêm Camille (“Siberian”), Moe Bar-El (“Rashidi”) and Sandra Yi Sencindiver (“Yutani”).
Given the timeline of Alien: Earth, it’s all but confirmed that none of the original film’s actors will reprise their roles for the series. Sadly, that means no Sigourney Weaver this time.
Alien: Earth’s Release Date
The Alien: Earth series will release on August 12.
Originally published December 28, 2023.