This summer, FX and Hulu will debut the latest entry in the iconic sci-fi horror franchise Alien. Titled Alien: Earth, this will be the Xenomorph's first television series, It's set in the year 2120, around two years before the original 1979 film starring Sigourney Weaver. And as the name implies, this time around, the action will take place on Earth itself.
I've had some reservations about how that might work in the larger context of the franchise, which often revolves around how utterly essential it is to keep the invasive Xenomorphs from ever reaching the human home planet. But with each new glimpse of Alien: Earth we get, those fears become quieter.
And we're getting quite a few glimpses at the moment, because FX and Hulu dropped a slew of new teaser trailers over the week. The largest of the bunch dropped on April 26, also known as Alien Day in the fandom in honor of the planet LV426, where Ellen Ripley and her crew first discovered the aliens. This one gives almost nothing away; it's all about the suspense.
Alien: Earth teaser sets up the Xenomorph's arrival on Earth
Yes, this three-minute teaser is almost entirely composed of surreal close-ups and gross sound effects showing how a Xenomorph is born. Or is it? It's a little hard to tell from the shots we get here, but I do think it's worth noting that the birthing pod hanging from the wall has a different design than any we've seen yet in the franchise. Logic says this should be a Facehugger — the little spidery creature that implants Xenomorph eggs into living hosts. But while it does seem to have a spidery limb or two, it's hard to tell. I like that this teaser is all about the atmosphere and light on plot details.
After the creature is born, the camera pans through a ship, showing a few hibernation pods which probably contain its human crew, a dining area, and the bridge. Near the end, we see the ship's computers try to analyze what the new creature in its science labs could be. The results come back unknown, and the computer automatically forwards a log of all its data about it to the Weyland-Yutani Corporation — that's the big soulless evil company behind many of the traumatic events in the Alien franchise.
Since we know that Alien: Earth will explore how Weyland-Yutani and its fellow corporations have taken over the world, it seems a likely guess that this teaser is showing us how the Xenomorph first comes onto their radar. Presumably, just before the ship crash lands on Earth and all hell breaks lose.
Our next teaser reveals how the Xenomorph ended up on the ship in the first place, and of course it was intentional:
Five deadly alien species are coming in Alien: Earth
The second teaser is only about 30 seconds long, but it gives away a little bit more than the previous teaser. The ship we've been seeing in all of these previews was employed to round up dangerous alien species, probably so that Weyland-Yutani can build bioweapons from analyzing them. There are five of them locked in the crates we see in the teaser.
"This ship collected five different lifeforms from the darkest corners of the universe, each one a unique, deadly species. Monsters."Alien: Earth "Crate" teaser trailer
Now this I can get behind. Perhaps the reason that Xenomorph looks so different in the other teaser is because a Facehugger got out of confinement and attached itself to one of the other deadly species? Either way, this is a really interesting set up so I'm here for it. What other monstrosities beside the usual Xenomorph will we see in Alien: Earth?
The big question is whether any of them will survive for more than a few minutes in the show; the Xenomorph isn't known for mercy. Here's the official plot synopsis for the show:
"When a mysterious space vessel crash-lands on Earth, a young woman and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat. As members of the crash recovery crew search for survivors among the wreckage, they encounter mysterious predatory life forms more terrifying than they could have ever imagined. With this new threat unlocked, the search crew must fight for survival and what they choose to do with this discovery could change planet Earth as they know it."
Alien: Earth is created by Noah Hawley (Fargo), and stars Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Timothy Olyphant, Essie Davis, Samuel Blenkin, Babou Ceesay, David Rysdahl, Adrian Admondson, Adarsh Gourav, Jonathan Ajayi, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Diem Camille and Moe Bar-El.
Our last teaser is a cute one. It dropped on Earth Day, and talks all about the beautiful diverse ecosystems of our planet and how they need to be protected...before it's too late.
We'll have our ear to the ground for an official release date. Given how many teasers FX has been dropping lately, I imagine it won't be long until we know the exact date the show will air. Until then, keep your calendar open as we prepare for the summer of the Xenomorph.
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h/t IGN