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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.
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. In November 2025, the series was renewed for a second season.
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Premise
The opening of the first episode introduces the series' central premise: humanity's pursuit of immortality through three paths—cyborgs, humans enhanced with biomechatronic body parts; synthetics, fully artificial beings endowed with intelligence; and hybrids, synthetic bodies containing transferred human consciousness.[2]
When the deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot crash-lands on Earth, a young hybrid woman named Wendy and a group of tactical soldiers make a discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet's biggest threat.[3]
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Cast and characters
Main
Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, and Timothy Olyphant play Wendy, Joe Hermit, Boy Kavalier, and Kirsh respectively.
- Sydney Chandler as Wendy,[4] the first hybrid and leader of the "Lost Boys", a group of six prototype hybrids created by the Prodigy Corporation from terminally ill children. Formerly known as Marcy Hermit, she was renamed Wendy after her transformation.[5]
- Alex Lawther as Joe Hermit,[4][6] a medic for the Prodigy Corporation Security Service, and Wendy's human brother.[5][7]
- Essie Davis as Dame Sylvia,[4] a scientist at Prodigy, therapist for the "Lost Boys", and Arthur Sylvia's wife.[8]
- Samuel Blenkin as Boy Kavalier,[4] the ambitious CEO of Prodigy and the world's youngest trillionaire.[5]
- Babou Ceesay as Morrow,[4] a cyborg employed as a security officer by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and the only survivor from the Maginot.[9]
- Adarsh Gourav as Slightly, a hybrid and member of the "Lost Boys". Formerly known as Aarush Singh.[8]
- Erana James as Curly,[4] a hybrid and member of the "Lost Boys".[9][7] Formerly known as Jane Mita.
- Lily Newmark as Nibs,[4] a hybrid and member of the "Lost Boys".[9][7] Formerly known as Rose Ellis.
- Jonathan Ajayi as Smee,[4] a hybrid and member of the "Lost Boys".[9][7] Formerly known as Christopher Okafor.
- David Rysdahl as Arthur Sylvia, a scientist at Prodigy and Dame Sylvia's husband.[5][7]
- Diêm Camille as Siberian,[4] a Prodigy Corporation Security Service soldier partnered with Joe.[9]
- Moe Bar-El as Rashidi,[4] a Prodigy Corporation Security Service soldier partnered with Joe.[10]
- Adrian Edmondson as Atom Eins,[4] a synthetic and a trusted advisor to Boy Kavalier.[9][7]
- Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh,[4] a synthetic who serves as Prodigy's chief scientist and mentors the "Lost Boys".[5]
Recurring
- Sandra Yi Sencindiver as Yutani, the CEO of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.[11]
- Kit Young as Tootles / Isaac, a hybrid and member of the "Lost Boys" who rejects the name "Tootles" given to him by Prodigy, instead renaming himself after Isaac Newton.[12][13] Formerly known as Steven DiMarco.
Guest
- Richa Moorjani as Zoya Zaveri, the executive officer and later acting captain of the Maginot .[14][15]
- Lloyd Everitt as Hoyt, a Prodigy Corporation Security Service soldier.[16]
- Tayme Thapthimthong as Anant, a Prodigy Corporation Security Service soldier.[16]
- Dean Alexandrou as Bergerfeld, a Prodigy Corporation Security Service soldier.[17][18]
- Amir Boutrous as Rahim, a medical officer aboard the Maginot .[14]
- Karen Aldridge as Chibuzo, a science officer aboard the Maginot .[14]
- Michael Smiley as Shmuel, an engineer aboard the Maginot .[14]
- Jamie Bisping as Malachite, an engineer's apprentice aboard the Maginot .[14]
- Andy Yu as Teng, the navigator aboard the Maginot .[14]
- Max Rinehart as Bronski, a science officer aboard the Maginot .[14]
- Enzo Cilenti as Petrovich, the chief engineer aboard the Maginot .[14]
- Tom Moya as Clem, a junior security officer aboard the Maginot .[19]
- Victoria Masoma as Sullivan, a crew member aboard the Maginot .[14]
- Tanapol Chuksrida as Dinsdale, the captain of the Maginot .[14]
- Robin August as MU/TH/UR / "Mother", the A.I. running the Maginot's computer.[20]
- David Bark-Jones as a wealthy tower resident of Prodigy City.[14]
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Episodes
 | This section's plot summaries may be too long or excessively detailed. (September 2025) |
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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.[28] 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.[29]
On February 17, 2022, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the series is a prequel taking place before the events of Alien (1979).[30] Asked about his approach to adding the show to a franchise like Alien with consideration to established canon, Hawley himself confirmed that the series would be "its own thing" tied more into the style and mythology of the original 1979 film and its sequel Aliens (1986), intentionally excluding some plot and style elements introduced in some of the other Alien media, like the prequel films Prometheus (2012), and Alien: Covenant (2017).[31][32] In April 2023, chairman of FX Productions, John Landgraf, stated that the series was in active pre-production.[33] 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.[34]
In September 2025, Hawley stated that work had not yet begun on a second season, but that conversations were ongoing. He mentioned that he was ready to begin immediately if Disney decided to renew the show and expected a renewal decision to be made "soon" after the airing of the season finale on September 23, 2025, once its viewership could be evaluated.[35][36] On November 11, 2025, FX renewed the series for a second season.[37]
Casting
In May 2023, Sydney Chandler was cast in the lead role,[38] followed by Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, Essie Davis, and Adarsh Gourav in July.[8] Timothy Olyphant and David Rysdahl would be among those added to the cast in November 2023.[39][5][9][40]
Filming
Principal photography was scheduled to begin in March 2022, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[41] Production on the series began on July 19, 2023, in Thailand.[8] 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.[41][8] In late August, the production was halted due to the strike with most of the first episode completed.[12] Filming resumed in April 2024,[11] and wrapped in mid-July.[42] Dana Gonzales, Bella Gonzales and Colin Watkinson serve as cinematographers.[43][44] Filming for the second season is scheduled to begin in 2026, in London.[37]
Music
The score for the series was composed by Jeff Russo. The soundtrack was released on Hollywood Records on August 12, 2025.[45] It will get a vinyl release in December 2025 on Mutant.[46] Russo has said he views his lack of education as an orchestral composer as a strength, leading him to use some unconventional instruments in his score, such as the desmophon.[47]
The episodes end on famous rock, metal and alternative rock songs because Hawley decided to highlight the cliffhanger endings by "mak[ing] an arena show, something that feels bigger than a small theater", featuring tracks by TV on the Radio, Black Sabbath, Tool, Metallica, Jane's Addiction, The Smashing Pumpkins, alt-j, Godsmack, Queens of the Stone Age and Pearl Jam.[48][49] The soundtrack from the fifth episode "In Space, No One..." was released as a stand-alone album on September 2, 2025.[50]
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Release
Promotion
Alien: Earth's promotion included immersive experiences such as The Wreckage, which was displayed at the San Diego Comic-Con and South by Southwest, and The Hunt, an activation staged in major cities worldwide.[51][52] FX also partnered with several companies for promotional tie-ins, offering limited-time meals and beverages through food and hotel chains, as well as exclusive merchandise.[53][51]
Release
The first episode of Alien: Earth was screened early at the series' panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 25.[54] The series premiered on FX and FX on Hulu with its first two episodes on August 12, followed by weekly releases of the remaining six episodes.[55] Internationally, Alien: Earth was made available to stream on Disney+.[56]
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Reception
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Viewership
The Walt Disney Company announced that the first episode of Alien: Earth garnered 9.2 million views worldwide within its first six days of streaming. This total was calculated by dividing the total hours watched by the episode's runtime, reflecting viewership on FX, Hulu, and Disney+.[57][58] Analytics company Samba TV, which gathers viewership data from certain smart TVs and content providers, reported that Alien: Earth was watched by 1.8 million U.S. households during its live-plus-five-day period. Boomer households (ages 65–74) over-indexed in viewership by 8% compared to other demographic groups.[59] Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on some U.S. television screens, reported that Alien: Earth was watched for 464 million minutes between August 11–17, ranking as the seventh-most-streamed original series.[60][61] In the following week, from August 18–24, it recorded 337 million minutes of watch time, making it the ninth-most-streamed original series that week.[62][63] Alien: Earth was later streamed for 326 million minutes from August 25–31, making it the tenth-most-streamed original series of the week.[64][65] Between September 1–7, it was streamed for 366 million minutes, ranking as the ninth most-streamed original series.[66][67]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 198 critics' reviews are positive.[68] The website's consensus reads: "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."[68] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 85 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[69]
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".[70] 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."[71] 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".[72]
Not all reviews were positive. Dominic Baez of The Seattle Times criticized the show's pace and uneven story, writing, "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."[73] Nicholas Quah of Vulture called the feeling of the show "tedious" and wrote that it "struggles to resolve the tension between replicating the core Alien appeal and building a broader narrative suited for long-form television," at the same time questioning if Hawley is fit for the genre versus his previous neo-noir stylings.[74]
Sigourney Weaver, who portrayed Ellen Ripley in the original movies, praised the series, noting how it expands the franchise's scope and calling it "much more profound than just an Alien movie."[75] James Cameron, who directed Aliens, also praised it, highlighting its use of "a lot of the DNA" of the first three films, "it's great creative recombinance in action, but with its own swerve, which is basically what I did. You gotta celebrate the new with the old."[76]
Accolades
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References
External links
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