Alien: Earth: What is the New Series of Ridley Scott’s Saga About and When will it Be Released?

Alien: Earth will be the first series in the Alien universe, which began when Ridley Scott released the first film in 1979. In that first film, Scott takes us aboard the ship Nostromo, where the crew decides to investigate a strange distress call and ends up discovering a deadly alien life form that uses humans as incubators for its young and leaves only one survivor, Ellen Ripley. Then came Aliens in 1986, and Ripley was forced to travel into space again, this time to try to make contact with the inhabitants of a human colony that had stopped communicating with Earth. There, Ripley discovered more death and destruction, and that same creature was trying to kill her again.

The third film was released in 1992 and takes Ripley to a maximum-security space prison, which is also visited by the alien creature that wiped out everyone on the Nostromo and the colony, and finally came Alien: Resurrection in 1997, which takes place centuries after Ripley’s death. The saga had a “renaissance” with films like Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, and it continues now with Alien: Romulus, directed by Uruguayan Fede Alvarez, where a group of young colonists come across the same creature that pursued Ripley and her crew. But the story doesn’t end there and Alien: Earth takes us in another direction, right back to the beginning.

What is Alien: Earth About?

As the title suggests, the plot will take place on Earth and will not feature Lt. Ripley as the protagonist. It will also not be directly related to the Romulus movie or Scott’s latest films, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Noah Hawley explained what aspects the series will deal with: “It’s a story that also takes place on Earth. Alien stories are always about someone trapped. In a prison, on a spaceship… I thought it would be interesting to open up the scenario and consider what would happen if the Xenomorphs had not been contained.” The decision not to feature the main character of the saga is due to respect for him and the need to offer new narratives. “I think Ripley’s story has already been told perfectly, I don’t want to spoil it,” explained the director, who also assured that he will delve into humanity and its “primitive and parasitic past” and a future “coexisting with artificial intelligence that try to kill us.”

The first thing to know about Alien: Earth is that it is a prequel to the Alien movies. The series comes from the mind of Fargo’s Noah Hawley and takes place years before Ripley boarded the Nostromo and the crew received the distress call that led to disaster. According to Collider, Alien: Earth will not only bring the story to Earth for the first time (Prometheus begins there, but quickly moves into space), but it’s set 30 years before the events of the first film starring Sigourney Weaver.

“The franchise’s new protagonist, which takes place on Earth and primarily follows the infamous Weyland-Yutani corporation, is a human-android hybrid named Wendy (Sydney Chandler), who becomes a pivotal part of Wyland-Yutani’s interests in scientific exploration and the creation of life,” Collider says.

Wendy could be the precursor to Bishop, the android that appears in the second film of the original saga. Another important detail is that, in the context of this series, Prometheus and Covenant are not considered and are not part of the canon, so they will not affect the events of this story in any way.

We were able to see more details of this company in the film with Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender, Prometheus, where we discover that Weyland had personal and dark, motives for agreeing to send a mission into space, to discover the “architects” of humanity. And things end wrong for everyone there.

Alien: Earth Release Date

The series is a production of FX, which belongs to Disney, so the series will arrive on Disney+, although a release date has not yet been set. The new Alien series recently finished filming, as Hawley himself clarified shortly after his other series, Fargo, earned 15 Emmy nominations. The project will be executive produced by Noah Hawley, Ridley Scott, and Dana Gonzales, with Chris Lowenstein producing. The premiere was initially expected to take place in 2024, but Noah Hawley confirmed that the Hollywood strike has pushed it back to the first half of 2025. Filming has largely taken place in Thailand.

Alien: Earth Cast

The series already has its lead. It will be Sydney Chandler, who we have seen in Don’t Worry, Darling (2022). Essie Davis, Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, and Adarsh ​​Gourav have also been confirmed. The latest to join the cast has been Timothy Olyphant, who has previously worked with FX and Hawley in the fourth season of Fargo. He will play a synthetic named Kirsh who will be the mentor of Wendy, the metahuman character played by Chandler.