The following contains mild spoilers for Alien: Earth.
Between cyborgs, xenomorphs, neomorphs, facehuggers, Engineers, and Alien: Romulus’ terrifying Offspring, there have been countless alien creatures and biomechanical humanoids throughout the Alien franchise’s 46-year-old and ongoing sci-fi horror tapestry. Alien and Aliens sequels have attempted to eclipse one another with outlandish perils, commonly and poignantly provoked by human hubris in a desire for immortality. And, in doing so, returning to the franchise’s roots with basic xenomorph devilry has proven to be successful, such as with Creative Assembly’s nearly 11-year-old Alien: Isolation.
Sometimes, as is the case with Alien: Isolation, all this takes is hopping backward in the timeline to when the known canon and universe lore had been simpler, even if there are a ton of new surprises there to discover. Indeed, Alien: Earth, the Disney+ series currently airing, takes place two years before Alien, while Alien: Isolation takes place 15 years afterward. One of Alien: Earth’s main characters, Wendy, is highly unique—at least until other hybrids join her as human minds downloaded into synthetic bodies—and, with a sequel to Alien: Isolation in development, a similar protagonist could be a survival horror revelation.
Alien: Isolation 2 Could Hypothetically Upgrade Its Protagonist Character
Amanda Ripley is a Great Touch of Nostalgia, But She’s Only Human
Amanda Ripley was a phenomenal protagonist for Alien: Isolation to feature due to her narrative significance as the daughter of Alien’s Ellen Ripley. However, aside from her nostalgic tether to the series’ most iconic protagonist, Amanda could’ve realistically been substituted for any random individual without gameplay being affected at all.
This worked well in Alien: Isolation because, while pursued by xenomorphs, androids, and facehuggers, it’s arguably more thrilling to flee and hide in a horror game when players know that they’re more or less powerless and unable to defend themselves confidently.
There are quite a few defensive strategies players can employ in Alien: Isolation’s gameplay, especially when it comes to how effective a fully loaded flamethrower can be. Yet, the core ethos of stealth and evasion persists, adding heightened paranoia to every instance that players incessantly observe the motion tracker’s radar pings.
A Human/Synthetic Hybrid in Alien: Isolation 2 Could Be Game-Changing
Only a few Alien: Earth episodes have been released as of this writing. That said, several of Wendy’s abilities have been on display that succinctly illustrate how non-human Marcy has become:
- No fall damage; able to land effortlessly from impossibly high drops.
- Super speed; able to run incredibly fast.
- Technopathy; able to hack surveillance cameras and manipulate artificial intelligence.
- Super strength; able to wrangle and defeat a xenomorph, with the xenomorph potentially visibly assessing Wendy as an apex predator.
Of course, one challenge that Alien: Earth itself hurdles is having one of its lead characters technically be a pre-teen with the body of an adult and the abilities of a highly advanced synthetic; a mixture that has proven intriguing in the Disney+ show but could be difficult to immersively execute in a game. Plus, if it intends to be harrowingly lonesome—a promise tremendously well delivered in Alien: Isolation—Alien: Isolation 2 would need to find its hybrid protagonist stranded somehow, whereas Alien: Earth’s Wendy has always been around or in contact with other characters thus far.
One of Alien: Earth’s main characters, Wendy, is highly unique and, with a sequel to Alien: Isolation in development, a similar protagonist could be a survival horror revelation.
A highly capable humanoid protagonist could sully or trivialize the fear that’s inherent in an ordinary human protagonist, whose careful wits and luck determine their chances of survival. Rather, it could make gameplay more dynamic than simply traversing corridors and ventilation systems before having to duck into yet another cabinet, though androids, xenomorphs, and facehuggers might not attack a hybrid protagonist as willingly as a human character or pose as much of a threat to them.
Perhaps, not dissimilar to Alien: Earth’s own action-led tone, a hybrid protagonist would fare better in an Aliens-inspired setting brimming with gunplay and combat. Nonetheless, a character with a human consciousness in a synthetic body might make for a fascinating protagonist, but how such a character could meld with survival horror gameplay in Alien: Isolation 2 would certainly be a challenge design-wise.
Alien: Earth
- Release Date
- August 12, 2025
- Network
- FX, Hulu
- Directors
- Dana Gonzales, Ugla Hauksdóttir, Noah Hawley
Cast
-
Sydney ChandlerWendy -
Alex LawtherHermit
WHERE TO WATCH
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Seasons
- 1
- Producers
- Chris Lowenstein, Darin McLeod, Maria Melnik
- Number of Episodes
- 8
- Release Window
- 2025
- Executive Producer(s)
- Clayton Krueger, Dana Gonzales, Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Joseph E. Iberti, Noah Hawley
