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Alien: Earth
American sci-fi horror television series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Alien: Earth is an American science fiction horror television series created by Noah Hawley. It is the first television series in the Alien franchise and is set two years before the events of the 1979 film Alien. The series stars Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Essie Davis, Samuel Blenkin, Babou Ceesay, Adarsh Gourav, and Timothy Olyphant in main roles.
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Development for the series was reported to have begun in early 2019, with Ridley Scott attached to executive produce for FX on Hulu. It had started pre-production by April 2023, with Chandler cast in the lead role the following month, and further casting taking place from July to November that year. After principal photography was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production began in July 2023 but was halted in August due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Filming resumed in April 2024 and ended in July that year.
Alien: Earth premiered on FX and FX on Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ internationally on August 12, 2025.
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Premise
When the space vessel Maginot crash-lands on Earth, a young woman and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet's biggest threat.[1]
Cast and characters
Main
- Sydney Chandler as Wendy, the first hybrid (a person who has their human consciousness transferred into a synthetic body) and Joe's sister, formerly known as Marcy[2]
- Florence Bensberg as Marcy, a terminally ill 11-year-old and Wendy's original human form
- Alex Lawther as Joe Hermit, a medic for the Prodigy Corporation Security Force, and Wendy's brother[2][3]
- Essie Davis as Dame Sylvia, an employee of the Prodigy Corporation and Arthur's wife[4]
- Samuel Blenkin as Boy Kavalier, the CEO of the Prodigy Corporation and the world's youngest trillionaire[2]
- Babou Ceesay as Morrow, the USCSS Maginot's cyborg (human with some synthetic parts) security officer[5]
- Adarsh Gourav as Slightly, a hybrid[4]
- Rishi Kuppa as Aarush, a terminally ill 12-year-old from Mumbai and Slightly's original human form
- Erana James as Curly, a hybrid[5][3]
- Lily Newmark as Nibs, a hybrid[5][3]
- Jonathan Ajayi as Smee, a hybrid[5][3]
- David Rysdahl as Arthur Sylvia, a scientist and Dame Sylvia's husband[2][3]
- Diêm Camille as Siberian, a Prodigy Corporation Security Force soldier[5]
- Moe Bar-El as Rashidi, a Prodigy Corporation Security Force soldier[6]
- Adrian Edmondson as Atom Eins, a senior employee of the Prodigy Corporation[5][3]
- Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh, the Prodigy Corporation's synthetic chief scientist, who serves as Wendy's mentor and trainer[2]
Recurring
- Richa Moorjani as Zaveri, a crew member aboard the USCSS Maginot[7]
- Sandra Yi Sencindiver as Yutani, the CEO of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation[8]
- Kit Young as Tootles, a hybrid[9]
- Lloyd Everitt as Hoyt, a Prodigy Corporation Security Force soldier
- Amir Boutrous as Rahim, the medical officer aboard the USCSS Maginot[7]
- Karen Aldridge as Chibuzo, a scientist aboard the USCSS Maginot[7]
- Michael Smiley as Shmuel, a senior engineer aboard the USCSS Maginot[7]
- Jamie Bisping as Malachite, a junior engineer aboard the USCSS Maginot[7]
- Andy Yu as Teng, a crew member aboard the USCSS Maginot[7]
- Max Rinehart as Bronski, a crew member aboard the USCSS Maginot[7]
- Enzo Cilenti as Petrovich, a crew member aboard the USCSS Maginot[7]
- Tom Moya[7]
- Victoria Masoma as Sullivan, a crew member aboard the USCSS Maginot[7]
- Tanapol Chuksrida as Dinsdale, the captain of the USCSS Maginot[7]
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Episodes
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Production
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Development
In February 2019, Bloody Disgusting reported that two Alien television series were in development, one animated – Alien: Isolation – and one live-action, from Ridley Scott for the network FX on Hulu.[17] In December 2020, as part of Disney's Investor Day presentation, the latter television series project was officially announced to be in development for the network, with Noah Hawley as showrunner and Scott as executive producer, being set on Earth in the near future.[18][19]
On February 17, 2022, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the series is a prequel taking place before the events of Alien (1979).[20] Hawley himself confirmed that the series will be tied more into the style and mythology of the original 1979 film rather than the prequel films Prometheus (2012), and Alien: Covenant (2017).[21] In April 2023, chairman of FX Productions John Landgraf stated that the series was in active pre-production.[22] According to FX Entertainment president Gina Balian, the scale of the production of Alien: Earth was much bigger than that of the 2024 FX series Shōgun, whose budget has been reported as $250 million.[23]
Casting
In May 2023, Sydney Chandler was cast in the lead role,[24] followed by Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, Essie Davis, and Adarsh Gourav in July.[4] Timothy Olyphant and David Rysdahl would be among those added to the cast in November 2023.[25][2][5][26]
Filming
Principal photography was scheduled to begin in March 2022, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[27] Production on the series began on July 19, 2023, in Thailand.[4] Filming (without the American cast including Sydney Chandler, Timothy Olyphant, and David Rysdahl) was allowed to occur during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike due to the series' British cast working under an Equity contract.[27][4] In late August, the production was halted due to the strike with most of the first episode completed.[9] Filming resumed in April 2024,[8] and wrapped in mid-July.[28] Dana Gonzales, Bella Gonzales and Colin Watkinson serve as cinematographers.[29][30]
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Release
Alien: Earth premiered on FX and FX on Hulu with the first two episodes on August 12, 2025. Subsequent episodes of the eight-episode season will be released weekly.[3] Prior to the series' release, the first episode was shown early to attendees of the series' panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 25.[31]
Reception
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Perspective
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 79 critics' reviews are positive, with a critics consensus of: "Stylistically bold and scary as hell, Noah Hawley's Alien: Earth transplants the Xenomorph mythos into the television medium with its cinematic grandeur intact while staking out a unique identity of its own."[32] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 85 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[33]
James Dyer of Empire gave the first season five out of five stars, praising its exploration of "the nature of consciousness, mortality, [and] humanity", concluding that "Hawley's series is a rare prequel that serves to enrich its source material, breathing new life into a once-tired franchise".[34] For RogerEbert.com, Brian Tallerico wrote, "Tony Gilroy's work on Andor feels like a logical comparison, and that's the quality tier on which this show resides as well. ... [Hawley] delivers an 8-episode first season that somehow marries the philosophical depth that fans of Prometheus admired with the intense action and bone-chilling imagery of James Cameron's Aliens."[35]
Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter described it as a "heady, sprawling, occasionally unwieldy but eventually thrilling epic about personhood, hubris, and of course, the primal pleasure of watching people get absolutely rocked by space monsters", noting its production design and "new beasts with their own deliciously horrible ways of killing".[36]
Not all reviews were positive, however. Dominic Baez of The Seattle Times criticized the show's pace and uneven story, writing, "The prequel series ... spends too long setting up a story that only barely gets going by the time the eight-episode season comes to an end. Its examination of identity ... is less insightful than it wants to be, buckling under the weight of its own unanswered questions. And far too often it feels like two separate plots stitched together, a Frankenstein's monster of existentialism and aliens ripping people apart."[37]
Nicholas Quah of Vulture called the feeling of the show "tedious" and wrote that the show "struggles to resolve the tension between replicating the core Alien appeal and building a broader narrative suited for long-form television," questioning if Hawley is fit for the genre over his previous neo-noir productions.[38] Chris Evangelista of SlashFilm compared it to Alien: Romulus and noted both rely too much on referencing past films and that Alien: Earth ultimately felt "boring."[39] Writing for Der Spiegel, Oliver Kaever called the show a "failure across the board", writing: "Slowness does not equal depth. Speed does not equal suspense. Expensive-looking visuals do not automatically create quality television. And anyone who engages with ‘Alien’ ends up churning out pseudo-philosophical nonsense faster than they can say ‘metaphysics.’"[40]
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References
External links
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