‘Alien: Earth' is a ‘dazzlingly haunting epic,' though some viewers may find it — natch — ‘alienating': See critics' reviews
The FX drama series has an 89 percent at Rotten Tomatoes and an 86 score on Metacritic. It takes place in Prodigy City in 2120 — that's two years before the events of the influential first Alien film. Created by Emmy winner Noah Hawley (Fargo), Alien: Earth focuses on the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and the race to create new android life.
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"Noah Hawley's dazzlingly haunting epic is all about what exactly defines us as human," proclaims Brandon Yu (The Wrap).
Martin Robinson (London Evening Standard) agrees, raving, "Alien: Earth is the big win, managing to finally deliver on the promise the franchise has always had."
And Alan Sepinwall (Rolling Stone) notes, "As he did with Fargo, turning a classic and beloved movie into a long-running, award-winning anthology series, Hawley has taken a concept that has no business working for television and shaped it into something thrilling, strange, and surprising."
But you can't please everyone.
Justin Clark (Slant Magazine) calls the showrunner's take on the franchise "disorienting" and "alienating," but readily admits it's still "fascinating." Dominic Baez (Seattle Times) writes, "Unfortunately, Alien: Earth gets the balance wrong. [It] spends too long setting up a story that only barely gets going by the time the eight-episode season comes to an end." And Ben Travers (IndieWire) declares in a similar vein that the show "doesn't always keep its footing," especially when compared to Hawley's version of Fargo.
Sydney Chandler leads the Alien: Earth ensemble as Wendy, an adult woman with a child's consciousness. Timothy Olyphant plays Kirsh, a synthetic who serves as Wendy's mentor. Alex Lawther is Wendy's brother, a soldier named CJ "Hermit." Samuel Blenkin portrays Boy Kavalier, a young CEO who's often seen barefoot. The sprawling cast also includes Babou Ceesay, Adrian Edmondson, David Rysdahl, Essie Davis, Lily Newmark, Erana James, Adarsh Gourav, Jonathan Ajayi, Kit Young, Diêm Camille, Moe Bar-El, and Sandra Yi Sencindiver.
Alison Herman (Variety) says that the new characters aren't "as flashy as the voracious monsters, but they prove a richer vein to mine." And Nick Schager (The Daily Beast) notices that "Chandler's wide-eyed and composed performance expresses the show's central conflicts between thought and emotion, biology and technology, and childhood and adulthood, and it grows deeper as the material tangles her (and her cohorts) up in constricting knots."
At a recent press event, FX told Gold Derby that they're hoping Alien: Earth will be its next Shōgun, a big budget epic that sweeps awards shows and drives viewership numbers. The program will premiere two episodes on Aug. 12 on FX and Hulu, and air every subsequent Tuesday until the Sept. 23 finale.
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