Six episodes of Alien: Earth watched for this spoiler-free review.
Alien is a long-running sci-fi franchise that, arguably, only has two good entries in its entire canon: Ridley Scott's slasher-movie-in-space Alien and James Cameron's action-focused sequel Aliens. Every other entry, from David Fincher's destroyed-behind-the-scenes Alien 3 to Scott's middling returns on Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, has seen mostly diminishing returns. Even Fede Álvarez's Alien: Romulus felt like a tepid take that emphasized all the worst aspects of 2020s requels.
Fargo and Legion creator Noah Hawley's take on the material with Alien: Earth is, at the very least, a novel exploration of how our home planet looks during this particular future. While it still includes plenty of xenomorph terror (along with some other intergalactic creepy crawlies), Alien: Earth is primarily focused on the ultra-corporate state of the planet. It's a narrative strategy that doesn't always work for the source material, even if it is trying to tackle some relevant topics.
Alien: Earth opens with a sequence that captures the feeling of the movie that started it all. Everything is there, from the disquieting silence to the camaraderie among the crew to the cassette-futurism aesthetic and late 70s/early 80s touches that have come to define the franchise. Not only are people still smoking cigarettes hundreds of years from now, but they're doing so in space. It all seems promising, but this introduction to the world of Alien: Earth is sadly short-lived, and is only around long enough to deliver some exposition on the handful of powerful corporations who all run the planet now (including the ever-present Weyland-Yutani Corporation).
Once the show moves its focus back to Earth, everything changes. From the opening text explaining the difference between synths, cyborgs, and hybrids, it's clear that Hawley is more interested in the androids and AIs of Alien's world than the actual aliens. The show's main focus is Wendy (Sydney Chandler), a newly created artificial human or 'synth,' but with a twist: this one has been uploaded with the consciousness of a terminally-ill child, creating something entirely new known as a hybrid.
It's the pet project of Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), the world's youngest trillionaire (things have gotten even more out of hand in the future) and the head of Prodigy. Wendy is the primary focus of Alien: Earth, even as she is joined by other Hybrids created with the minds of children. The performances are solid, especially Chandler as Wendy, but the real standout is Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh, the senior synth at Prodigy and caretaker of the new hybrids. Olyphant is in a completely new mode here, delivering an unsettling and subtly calculating performance that recalls Michael Fassbender's David from Prometheus and Covenant.
The world of Alien: Earth, and particularly the Peter Pan imagery and thematic elements of Prodigy are reminiscent of Hawley's Legion. That show technically took place in the world of X-Men, but most of the time was solidly focused on telling psychedelic stories about its band of outcast mutants without any overt references to the broader Marvel mythos. It worked largely because X-Men and Marvel properties in general lend themselves to stylistic takes that deviate from established projects. Legion may share some of its DNA with the X-Men movies, but you'd be hard-pressed to find ways that they emulate one another. What worked for Legion, though, doesn't necessarily work for Alien: Earth.
Part of Alien's charm (for lack of a better term) is its used-future aesthetic, one built on the technology available in the 70s and 80s. CRT monitors, black and green text-based operating systems, lights, diodes, chunky angular cases. Even Romulus returned to this look for the most part. Alien: Earth, though, starts to feel like something entirely different once it returns to Earth. The look of the show is now more reminiscent of every other sci-fi venture, with nothing to make it stand out. Boy Kavalier's weird Peter Pan obsession, which includes playing the original Disney cartoon (synergy!) During the hybrid creation process seems like such a far cry from what makes the Alien franchise what it is. It feels distinctly different from what came before, to be sure, but that ends up working against it.
The storytelling in the show, and the general vibe of the cinematography, hue more closely to Alien 3 and even the more (perhaps unfairly) maligned Alien: Resurrection. The latter especially went really weird with its take on the franchise mythos, getting into cloning and xenomorph hybrids the way it did. While there are touches of Scott's and even Cameron's work (including a band of soldiers sent into a deadly situation and being woefully outmatched), Hawley seems more interested in emulating the less popular Alien entries in creating something of his own. Regardless of which Alien movies he is pulling from, Hawley does at least match the ick factor for most of them, laying it on thick with human gore and alien slime.
In general, Alien: Earth is a competent television show. It builds its plot threads and intertwines its characters' stories well enough. What it is unlikely to do, though, is hook fans of Alien who are hoping for a more solid take on the material or a return to form (though episode five may just be the best Alien story we've gotten in years, and that's including Romulus). For the most part, though, Hawley is more interested in tackling the non-human side of the Alien universe, and it doesn't entirely work. There may be some really special stuff to come in the final two episodes of Alien: Earth, but from what was seen in the first six episodes, the show may need more time to gestate before it really bursts through.
Alien: Earth premieres with two episodes on Tuesday, August 12 at 8pm ET on FX and Hulu (Disney+ In Canada).
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
Alien: Earth follows a young woman and a group of tactical soldiers who confront humanity’s greatest threat after a mysterious space vessel crash-lands on Earth. Released in 2025, the film explores their shocking discovery and the ensuing struggle for survival.