Gestation is complete, and the birth of a new chapter for the Alien franchise is imminent! Today, FX and Hulu revealed a bunch of new details and images for Alien: Earth, its upcoming prequel series from the mind of Fargo creator Noah Hawley. As a life-long Alien fan, I've been hanging on every bit of news we've been able to get for this series; even then, its story and characters have largely remained a mystery. No more!
According to Deadline, Alien: Earth will premiere on Tuesday, August 12 at 8pm ET/PT on both Hulu and FX. Yes, Alien: Earth is dropping both on streaming and linear television; the Xenomorph is taking over all the channels of communication! It cannot be stopped!
The show's first season will consist of eight episodes total, with the first two dropping on the premiere date. After that, one episode will air a week on Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. EST until the season finale on September 23.
Alien: Earth plot details revealed
Deadline also shared some very intriguing new plot details. This sounds to me like a description straight out of a press release, so I'm going to let it do the talking:
"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 (Chandler), marks a new dawn in the race for immortality. After Weyland-Yutani’s spaceship collides with Prodigy City, Wendy and the other hybrids encounter mysterious life forms more terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined."
This is by far the most we've learned about the series yet. Last month, FX released a slew of teasers that hinted at five terrifying monsters heading for a collision course with Earth, so we'll almost certainly see more creatures than just the titular Alien.
It's also interesting that we now have confirmation that Wendy is a "hybrid." So far as I recall, this is a new concept for the Alien series, and sounds distinctly different from the usual androids which appear throughout the franchise. I'm very curious to see how the show handles Wendy, from Chandler's acting to the themes the show uses her to explore.
Alien: Earth cast list
FX also released a slew of new images, which you can see some of above. The studio also confirmed the names of many of the characters who will appear in the series, along with what actors play them. Here's the full cast list:
- Sydney Chandler as Wendy
- Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh
- Alex Lawther as Hermit
- Samual Blenkin as Boy Kavalier
- Babou Ceesay as Morrow
- Adrian Edmondson as Atom Eins
- David Rysdahl as Arthur Sylvia
- Essie Davis as Dame Sylvia
- Lily Newmark as Nibs
- Erana James as Curly
- Adarsh Gourav as Slightly
- Jonathan Ajayi as Smee
- Kit Young as Tootles
- Diêm Camille as Siberian
- Moe Bar-El as Rashidi
- Sandra Yi Sencindiver as Yutani
It's going to be the wet, hot summer of the Xenomorph on FX, Hulu, and amusingly, Disney+. I'll never get used to the idea of watching Alien on the Disney streaming service, but hey, if you want to scar your kids and turn them into sci-fi nerds for life, the option's there.
We'll have our ear to the ground for more news about Alien: Earth as its August 12 premiere date approaches!
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