The ‘Alien’ franchise has been putting out movies every 3 – 7 years since “Alien” was first released in 1979. “Alien: Romulus” proved ‘Alien’ movies are still relevant when the film won it’s opening weekend box office last year, but the franchise has still never had a Iive action TV series, until now. Development for the show began all the way back n 2019, with the Director form the ordinal film “Alien” on board as Executive Producer. Covid and the strikes delayed production for years until the series finally finished in July of last 2024. After over a year, we are finally getting the in-depth first look at Earth in the ‘Alien’ universe, if you don’t count the ‘Alien vs. Predator’ movies which were taking place in an alternate universe (at least according to Scott).
“Alien: Earth” really does a thoughtful job of digging into concepts that have not been explored fully in the ‘Alien’ universe, while also including the attention to detail and horror staples of the franchise. There are many competing concepts on display in the two episode premiere, but the series and franchise always revert back to being about survival. Warning, beyond this point there are spoilers for anyone who is not up to date in the ‘Alien’ franchise as well as the 2 episode premiere of “Alien: Earth” on FX and Hulu.
There are many competing concepts on display in the two episode premiere, but the series and franchise always revert back to being about survival.”
The series opens with an homage to the original 1979 film, with a crew awakening from cryo sleep in the middle of a mission. The major differences here is, the “Alien: Earth” ship, the USCSS Maginot has multiple alien species on board their ship, and they are heading back to earth with them! Fans of the ranch isle know how destructive the Xenomorph alone is, but now there are Eyeball octopus monsters, killer cockroaches and a deadly man eating plant are all headed back to the planet that started human life. Some of the crew jokes about shooting the specimens out into space, but Morrow (Babou Ceesay), the ships security chief and resident cyborg reiterates the standard company line in every ‘Alien’ film ever – “The specimens ARE the mission.”
The cinematography, every detail here feels exactly like it takes place in the same universe as the 1979 film. As far as a timeline, “Alien Earth” actually takes place 2 years before “Alien”, so it creates a bit of a logical hole here as to why the crew in the 1979 movie would not realize the insane danger they were in when they encountered Xenomorphs. Add decades to that event when “Aliens” occurs and there still is no understanding of the Xenomorphs danger. This information could be due to the fact that whatever happens on “Alien: Earth” becomes classified, or possibly just due to corporate secrecy. Overlooking that point of contention, “Alien: Earth” is arguably better than ‘Romulus’ and more well done than anything that’s come out for the franchise since the first two films.
The opening of the show introduces two new concepts to the series right in the first sequence – Cyborgs and Hybrids, synthetic beings with human consciousness. The aforementioned Security Chief Morrow gives us our first look at a cyborg and it’s a compelling one but we don’t get much insight into the technology that is incorporated into his body. We do eventually fund out that by the end of the voyage of the Maginot, that Morrow is the only survivor left and he’s not above sacrificing his teammates for the mission. After the Weyland-Yutani ship sequence, the story cuts to one of the 5 trillionaires running the world, boy genius Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin). The child lord and his company Prodigy got rich through synthetic and AI technology, but the series starts when he is at a crossroads, creating the first hybrid synthetic.
Terminally ill Marcy (Florence Bensberg) is set to be the first hybrid prototype, who ‘transfers her consciousness into a immortal body. Kavalier has an odd relationship with the girl and he is the first inside look we’ve ever got into one of the faces behind the soulless corporations from the movies. We also get a brief glimpse of Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) from Weyland Yutani, but not enough to reveal anything about her character. Marcy goes through with the consciousness transfer, and leaves her human body behind to become. The first hybrid, Wendy (Sydney Chandler). Whether the consciousness is transferred or copied over is a huge gray area that doesn’t really get addressed, but we like it being left to the imagination. Wendy is enlisted by Kavalier and her creator, Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis) to help welcome more hybrids into the world as their big sister. Chandler does an amazing job as Wendy, acting like a robot who has a human mind inside of her and the naivety of youth. It’s a complex role, but the actress is enthralling to watch throughout.
As Wendy is the first hybrid, she is allowed one privilege that no other hybrid gets: she is allowed to watch her brother Joe Hermit (Alex Lawther), but not have any contact with him. Wendy watches her brother whenever she can and even learns to have control over anything connected to Prodigy’s network. It’s sad to watch her clearly depressed and. grieving brother as he reminisces and watches movies that the two used to enjoy together. The pilot does a superb job of building up Wendy’s world and your almost forget about the Maginot, which crash lands on Earth, in the city where Wendy’s brother (who works for Prodigy as a medic) is living. Wendy realizes her brother has been dispatched as search and rescue to the spaceship crash and immediately wants to go help. Kavalier reluctantly agrees and the main conflict is set in place. Hermit lands on scene first, but the episode ends just as Wendy arrives with her brothers and sisters to the crash site. The hybrids are overseen by a synthetic named Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant) who has some great dialogue throughout the pilot episode.
Episode 2 kicks off at the crash site when Hermit and his co-workers are assessing the situation. There is a lot going on here as Morrow roams the ship, trying to recover the company property (alien lifeforms) while Prodigy soldiers move through the ship, unaware of the dangerous aliens on board. The hybrids involvement is hilarious at times as we get to see these kids in super human bodies react to a highly stressful situation along with highly dangerous alien species. The episode sees Hermit chased by a grown Xenomorph before Morrow eventually subdues the creature. Morrow loses control of his capture when Prodigy soldiers capture him, which doesn’t last long once the Xenomorph gets free. There is also an ‘eat the rich’ scene where a very snooty man having a feats with his rich friends refuses to evacuate. Xenomorphs don’t’ discriminate, they just kill everything… and this massacre is bloody.
The episode has sone nice lulls between the action, especially once Hermit and Wendy are reunited. Wendy doesn’t reveal their true relationship at first, but her hybrid brother quickly spills the beans. Joe is shocked and doesn’t know what to believe, but ends up quizzing her, which leads him to believe she is telling the truth, Their reunion is powerful and emotional, but the action picks back up as the Xenomorph wreaks havoc in the crash site. The episode ends on a huge cliffhanger, with the Xenomorph snatching Wendy’s brother out of a window, prompting Wendy to dive after the deadly alien. Xenomorphs have been known to snatch and not kill before, so Wendy’s brother is not a goner, but things aren’t looking good. Pretty much any time a synthetic and alien have crossed paths, the synth has been ripped apart, so it’s unclear what Wendy can do alone to stop the Xenomorph. It’s possible with the help of her siblings that she can take one down, but it’s unclear what Wendy can do alone.
What do you think? Is “Alien: Earth” just what this franchise needed? Will Wendy save her brother? Will Morrow’s employer Yutani become involved in the fight for the aliens? Why haven’t we seen hybrids or cyborgs in any of the other ‘Alien’ movies? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
