Alien: Earth is the next installment of the popular science fiction franchise that bears its name. The prequel series brings the action to Earth, where five mega-corporations govern the planet. All the companies are in a race to unlock the secrets to immortality.
There are cyborgs who are humans implanted with artificial parts, synthetics who are humanoid robots with artificial intelligence, and hybrids who are humanoid robots with implanted human consciousness. When a ship crash lands in Asia, a group of hybrids lead by a woman named Wendy investigate and encounter terrifying life forms.
Recently, we heard the creatives and cast speak about the show. It was a process to develop Alien: Earth, especially as a television series when the previous releases were all films. Creator, writer, and executive producer Noah Hawley spoke about building something that felt new but respected the franchise.
“Well, an Alien movie is a two-hour survival story, and a television show is long form in which you have to invest in a lot of characters who don’t die and explore these characters and the themes that were introduced in the Alien franchise.”
He continued, “So the challenges are, for me, let’s take the monsters out of it for a minute and think about what the show? Where’s the drama that we’re investing in week to week? I’m not worried about the monsters. When we put the monsters in, that’s the money-back guarantee, right? So we had to create this human drama in which you have a lot of human monsters as well and explore a lot of issues about the world that we’re living in, just projected into the future.”
Executive producer David W. Zucker added, “[I]n watching the first two films after having completed the series, it was really striking to me how intimately related the two were — that Noah was able to take a lot of what was seated in those films, a lot of the thematic ideas that were in those films. But by literally bringing this story to Earth, and the way that many of those films referenced going to one day, it suddenly opened up the landscape, literally, and gave him an opportunity to really delve deeply into things one can’t accomplish in a two-hour film.”
The first movie released over 40 years ago, and in that time, the culture has changed. Hawley wanted the Alien: Earth story, particularly about the companies running the world, to reflect the present.
“I mean, so much of what defines Alien and Aliens, right, is this idea that there’s this nameless, faceless Weyland-Yutani corporation and these individuals — the space truckers or the soldiers — you know, they’re really at the mercy of this nameless, faceless corporation. In our day and age, our corporations have faces and the faces of these young technocrats, who are celebrity CEO billionaires. So, if I had done the 1970s version of capitalism, it wouldn’t have felt right for the world that we live in today…So, we’re in a different sort of state where the individual is at the mercy now, not just of this nameless, faceless corporation, but, you know, these sort of boy geniuses.”
Sure, Alien: Earth has plenty of drama, action, and even horror, but Hawley wants viewers to take more away from the series than a great watch.
“I think what drew me to this and what I want the audience to take away from it really is my ambition for this genre to be bigger than just entertainment, for it to provide the entertainment, to be a fun show, with all the action and horror we have. But I think science fiction has a responsibility to really look at the issues that we’re wrestling with on this earth and try to envision a future in which we can solve them. And so, my hope is that people come away, you know, they ride the roller coaster episode to episode, but they come out of it still thinking about the show and talking about the show afterwards.”
The two-episode series premiere of Alien: Earth airs Tuesday, August 12, on FX.
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