Decades after making the sci-fi horror classic Alien, director Ridley Scott returned to the Alien franchise with the intention of making a series of prequels that would tell us all about the “Space Jockey” and the creation of the xenomorph. The mythology Scott presented in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant didn’t sit well with a lot of fans – and when Alien: Covenant underwhelmed and underperformed, his prequel series came to an early end. Now the franchise is set to continue with a new film directed by Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead 2013, Don’t Breathe) and an “FX on Hulu” TV series from Fargo creator Noah Hawley… and during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hawley confirmed that he’s one of the fans who wasn’t very impressed by the story told in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. So don’t expect to see nods to the mythology or technology of those films in the TV show.
Hawley said, “Ridley and I have talked about this — and many, many elements of the show. For me, and for a lot of people, this ‘perfect life form’ — as it was described in the first film — is the product of millions of years of evolution that created this creature that may have existed for a million years out there in space. The idea that, on some level, it was a bioweapon created half an hour ago, that’s just inherently less useful to me. And in terms of the mythology, what’s scary about this monster, is that when you look at those first two movies, you have this retro-futuristic technology. You have giant computer monitors, these weird keyboards … You have to make a choice. Am I doing that? Because in the prequels, Ridley made the technology thousands of years more advanced than the technology of Alien, which is supposed to take place in those movies’ future. There’s something about that that doesn’t really compute for me. I prefer the retro-futurism of the first two films. And so that’s the choice I’ve made — there’s no holograms. The convenience of that beautiful Apple store technology is not available to me.“
One of the first things we heard about the Alien TV series – and one of the most surprising things about it – is that it will actually be set on Earth, a couple decades before the events of the first movie. FX chairman John Landgraf has said the show will take place “right near the end of this century”, and a late-2090s setting would place this between the events of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, if Hawley were acknowledging them. Hawley decided to set the show on Earth because “The alien stories are always trapped… Trapped in a prison, trapped in a space ship. I thought it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of ‘What happens if you can’t contain it?’ are more immediate.“
Hawley’s Alien TV series stars Sydney Chandler (Pistol) as the meta-human Wendy, who has the body of an adult, but the brain and consciousness of a child; Essie Davis (The Babadook) as Dame Silvia, Alex Lawther (The End of the F*cking World) as a soldier named CJ, Samuel Blenkin (Black Mirror) as a CEO named Boy Kavalier, Adarsh Gourav (The White Tiger) as a character named Slightly, Kit Young (Shadow and Bone) as a character called Tootles, and Timothy Olyphant (Justified), who is said to be playing Kirsh, a synth who acts as a mentor and trainer for Wendy.
Also in the cast are Babou Ceesay (Guerrilla), Jonathan Ajayi (Wonder Woman 1984), Erana James (The Wilds), Lily Newmark (Sex Education), Diêm Camille (Washington Black), Adrian Edmondson (The Young Ones), Moe Bar-El (The Peripheral), and David Rysdahl, who worked with Hawley on Fargo season 5.
The Alien TV series is believed to have an eight episode first season. The show is aiming for a 2025 premiere – so before it starts airing, we’ll see the theatrical release of the new Alien movie (possibly called Alien: Romulus) that has been directed by Alvarez and is set between the events of the original Alien and Aliens. That movie is on track for an August 16, 2024 theatrical release.
Ridley Scott is producing the Alien TV series through his Scott Free banner. Here’s a list of everything we know about the Alien TV series so far.
What do you think of the Alien TV series disregarding Prometheus and Alien: Covenant? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.