'Alien: Earth' Creator Noah Hawley Wants You to Have That 'I'm Out' Feeling Each Week

CNET

a day ago

One of the programs I have been impatiently waiting for has been Alien: Earth. It's safe to say I have been a rabid fan of the franchise (through good and bad) for most of my life. Now, after half a decade of development and production, the show is dropping today on FX and Hulu, and hits Disney Plus, internationally, on Wednesday, Aug. 13. It's about time.
If you read my review of the series, you'll already know I love the show. The set design is incredible, the story takes things into exciting new territory and, honestly, it feels like it'll do for Alien what Star Wars: Andor did for Rogue One.
Alien: Earth was created by Fargo's Noah Hawley and boasts a talented cast, including Sydney Chandler (who plays Wendy), Alex Lawther (who plays Wendy's brother, Hermit), Timothy Olyphant (who plays Kirsh), Samuel Blenkin (who plays Boy Kavalier) and Babou Ceesay (who plays security officer Morrow).
I spoke with most of the cast and creator over Zoom, and earlier this year, I attended a press screening and conversation with Hawley. I pored through all our chats all to give you the biggest pieces to the Alien: Earth puzzle.
Read more: Hulu Review: A Strong Library of Network TV and Exciting Originals at a Competitive Price
Timothy Olyphant's Kirsh leads a gang of new synthetics in Alien Earth.
FX
What's the difference between these new synths and the ones we've seen in the Alien movies?
Alien: Earth introduces a new race of synthetic humans that push ethical and moral boundaries, to say the least. Gone are the days of Bishop and the androids featured in the movies. Now, we're putting the consciousness of sick children into adult bodies. What could possibly go wrong?
"I think the question for them is, humanity is a choice now, right?" Hawley said during our Zoom chat. "Do they endeavor to stay human? Are they allowed to become something else? It becomes a push-pull."
Of the group of child-minded synths (who are called the Lost Boys, because, Peter Pan), Wendy is the leader. The key for Chandler to get into the right mind-set for the character was to study the kids around her. "They're so honest and present, and they're not self-conscious," she told me. "They're not overthinking, which is the thing that we try and do as actors, which is show up and be vulnerable."
Sydney Chandler stars as Wendy in Alien: Earth.
FX Networks
Olyphant's Kirsh represents the old guard, so to speak. He's a synthetic human who is witnessing the dawn of something new. He works for Prodigy and it's his responsibility to keep them safe. "He sees Wendy and the other Lost Boys as potentially something worth fighting for," he said. "And I think that he sees something better than himself."
In the end, the question becomes, is humanity worth choosing? Or even saving?
"This ghost in the machine -- this human in the machine -- quality the show embodies really focuses on that question of what are we?" Hawley continued. "There is a horror, an existential heart to the whole series, that's rooted in our own fear of losing ourselves."
Weyland Yutani isn't the only power player. How do the other companies play into things?
"All we really know about Alien is that there's this corporation called Weyland Yutani," Hawley revealed during the press Q&A. "I like the idea that there's still competition. I thought about the moment at the turn of the 20th century where you had Edison, Tesla and Westinghouse, and you weren't sure who was going to control electricity. So I thought, what if we had that kind of moment in which it's a contest between these sorts of cybernetic enhancements and AI and transhumanism?"
Lynch, Dynamic, Threshold and Prodigy are the four other companies bringing hefty competition Weyland Yutani's way. The latter -- Prodigy -- is the focal point of the first season. Its leader is an egomaniacal man-child named Boy Kavalier.
Samuel Blenkin plays Boy Kavalier in Alien: Earth.
FX
"He's an impulsive character who gets bored very quickly," Blenkin told me over Zoom, regarding the broligarch-style leader of Prodigy. "At the start of the season, we've got these new, amazing inventions -- the hybrids -- and he's still a little bit interested. But I think he's already starting to get a little bit bored, so he's kind of looking for the next thing that might pique his interest. And I think maybe that thing is hurtling toward Earth on a spaceship."
How does the change of environment affect the Xenomorph?
As the title of the series suggests, the titular alien is finally coming to Earth. What does that actually mean for the Xenomorph itself?
"In the films that I reference, which are mostly the first two films, we never really see these creatures within an ecosystem," Hawley said during the Q&A. "They're always sort of an apex predator and existing in a space with no other wildlife, really."
Alien: Earth shot in Thailand and took advantage of the locale's lush environment. So, you can expect to see this apex predator lurking outside in nature, which is something we've never really seen before.
Hawley continued, "I was interested in that idea of, if you're going to bring these creatures to a terrestrial environment, how are they going to change it? And, you know, how are other creatures, bugs and any of them going to interact with them?"
A giant face hugger grabs planet Earth in the key art for Alien: Earth.
FX
Why are there new monsters in Alien: Earth?
The one thing I found most disturbing about the new series is the introduction of a collection of space bugs in the first episode, which wreaks havoc throughout the season. Why are they there? More importantly, why hasn't anyone thought to expand the creepy-crawliness of the franchise before?
"One of the things that you can never reproduce in an audience that has seen an Alien movie is the feeling you had the first time you saw the life cycle of this creature in that first film," Hawley said during the press Q&A in April.
He continued, "So that's where the idea for other creatures came from. I want you to have that feeling, because that feeling is integral to the alien experience. But I can't do it with these creatures. So let's introduce new creatures where you don't know how they reproduce or what they eat, so that you can have that 'I'm out' feeling each week."
Timothy Olyphant, who plays Kirsh, says Alien: Earth feels like the original movie, but is also nothing like it.
FX Networks
So, what makes Alien: Earth a must-watch series?
"It felt like Alien, but it was nothing like Alien," Olyphant told me, recalling his experience reading the scripts for the first time. "I was so excited."
"When the Alien components started entering into the story, I put down the pages and was like, 'Oh my god, this is so fucking smart'," he continued, leaning in.
"It's just so good, and it just took all the pressure off of whatever may have been there about being a part of the Alien franchise. I thought, 'Ohhh, I'm in a Noah Hawley show.' And the fact that that is also an Alien story? I just got so excited. My feeling is that's what I think the audience can look forward to: that sense of discovery, that sense of excitement that the audience felt originally when they saw the first film."