Latest news with #xenomorph
Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
The top 10 aliens on screen ranked — from The Blob to ET
R emember the gruesome, acid-for-blood extraterrestrial nasty in Alien? The one that burst out of John Hurt's chest in the middle of a convivial dinner aboard the Nostromo? Well the xenomorph is back and this time on TV — specifically in Alien: Earth on Disney+ (from Wednesday) and now crash-landed on Earth. This cannot be good news for earthlings, but the series is an ambitious and intelligent extension of the franchise. In the pantheon of aliens that have visited Earth (on screen, that is), the xenomorph is a particularly horrifying one, but as many have been friendly as have been hostile, as my personal pick of ten from the movies (not TV, so no Mork) suggests. You may wish to suggest others, of course, but remember, aliens on Earth only.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Alien: Earth to Outlander: Blood of My Blood – the seven best shows to stream this week
It's remarkable that it has taken so long for the xenomorph created by Ridley Scott in Alien to arrive on the small screen. But here it is courtesy of Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley. The sci-fi thriller is set two years before the first film and centres on the crash-landing of a research vessel on Earth – in the middle of a battle between two corporations: pushy upstarts Prodigy and the villainous Weyland-Yutani. Prodigy's gift to the world is transhumanism, in which human consciousness is implanted into seemingly indestructible bodies. Expect that proposition to be tested by the arrival of extraterrestrial specimens from the doomed spacecraft. The result is a tense, nasty and inventive series. Disney+, from Wednesday 13 August This prequel to Outlander boasts a similar tone: the kind of shortbread box kitsch that makes Mel Gibson's Braveheart look subtle and understated. It tells the origin tales of Outlander's lead characters Jamie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp via the romantic backstories of their parents. Jamie's family history is a bloody affair, born out of forbidden love in the midst of a rivalry between two Highland clans. Claire's involves time travel and takes place during the first world war. The show is as beguilingly silly as ever and good fun, as long as you don't expect it to make any logical sense. MGM+ via Prime Video, out now Today Wrexham, tomorrow the world? Eva Longoria has decided to try to revive the fortunes of Mexican football club Necaxa. But guess who's along for the ride? Taking a break from north Wales, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney soon arrive with advice, and become investors. The formula for this documentary genre feels familiar by now: screamingly passionate fans; the drawing of a parallel between the fate of club and town; and a carefully curated, slightly oversold rags-to-riches narrative. Does this trend feel like cultural colonialism yet? It's getting close. Disney+, out now In the wake of Assassin, here is another collision between international espionage and family life in a South Korea-set thriller adapted from a graphic novel by Arash Amel and Marguerite Bennett. David Jung (Daniel Dae Kim, from Lost and The Good Doctor) is living in quiet semi-retirement when his past comes roaring back to life. First, he learns that there's a price on his head. Then, he discovers that the assassin who has been sent to kill him is someone he knows. It is anything but mould-breaking but Kim is a smoothly enigmatic lead. Prime Video, from Wednesday 13 August Sign up to What's On Get the best TV reviews, news and features in your inbox every Monday after newsletter promotion Tragic scenes as this inventive, enjoyably crude animation returns for a second season; a food fight is in progress. All is not well in the newly established republic of Foodtopia: the rule of Frank Frankfurter (Seth Rogen) is challenged and he and his friends are forced into exile. Soon, Frank and pals wind up in New Foodland, surrounded by all sorts of weird snacks. But can these unfamiliar foods be trusted? While Sausage Party is underpinned by a degree of satirical intent about human behaviour, gross-out fun is always prioritised. Prime Video, from Wednesday 13 August Actor Chris Hemsworth fronts this earnest and self-indulgent celebrity self-improvement challenge series in which he attempts to rewire his brain, body and soul by taking on three assignments. Apparently, there's a scientific basis behind each of the missions though, sadly, emulating Hemsworth will be beyond all but the richest and most well-connected of viewers. Can he climb a frozen 600ft wall? Complete South Korean special forces pain training? And, perhaps most urgently, learn to drum in time to perform on stage with Ed Sheeran? Disney+, from Friday 15 August This documentary series takes us behind the scenes of NBC/USA Network's high-stakes weight loss competition The Biggest Loser. It's halfway between a celebration and an interrogation of the format, with plenty of former participants claiming the show transformed their lives for the better while other interviewees wonder whether the show is exploitative or disrespectful of its contestants. Even more damagingly, there's the suggestion of real health risks being taken. As one contributor says, 'You can't have a show based on weight loss that is safe.' Netflix, from Friday 15 August
Gizmodo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Everything to Remember Before Watching ‘Alien: Earth'
One of the best things about the new show, Alien: Earth, is that you do not need to be an Alien superfan to enjoy it. It's not dependent on the plots of the seven-plus films in the franchise and is only connected to them in a few tangential ways. For now, at least. Nevertheless, there are a few things worth keeping in mind as we get closer to the August 12 debut. Here they are. The Alien franchise began in 1979 with Ridley Scott's film, Alien. It continued in 1986 with James Cameron's sequel, Aliens, which was then followed by the 1992 David Fincher sequel Alien 3 and then 1997's Alien: Resurrection by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Those all take place in chronological order. The franchise continued in a few mostly unrelated crossover Alien vs. Predator films before being reimagined in 2012 by Ridley Scott's return to the franchise, Prometheus. That was a prequel to everything that came before and was followed by 2017's Alien: Covenant. Most recently, Fede Alvarez made a movie called Alien: Romulus, which is set between the events of the first two movies. Basically, if you want to have a blast mainlining Alien movies, you can, but almost all of that is superfluous to the new show, save for the following. One of the things Alien: Earth does assume you remember about the Alien franchise is the aliens themselves. Though we often just refer to them as 'aliens,' the proper in-universe name is 'xenomorph.' Where the xenomorphs came from, where they live, and most of the backstory for them are largely left unanswered in the franchise, though Prometheus and Covenant do offer a few clues. What is definitely known is how they are created, and that's very important. A xenomorph queen lays an egg. That egg has a spider-like creature in it often referred to as a 'facehugger.' It's called that because the egg hatches when it senses a viable host, and the creature hugs the face of the being, implanting the being with an embryo. That embryo then grows inside the being, eventually hatching by bursting out of their chest. This is a baby xenomorph, nicknamed a 'chestburster' for obvious reasons. The chestburster then feeds and grows rapidly into the fully grown xenomorph. A xenomorph is a straight killing machine. Fast, nimble, and deadly. It also has a natural defense mechanism in that its blood is acid, so it burns anything that makes it bleed. All of which is very important information to know as you dive into Alien: Earth. Alien: Earth is set in 2120, which is three years before the events of the first Alien film. What that means is the crew of the Nostromo, the ship that's invaded by a xenomorph in the first film, is still in cryosleep on their way home to Earth from a deep-space mining mission. In three years, for some reason, they'll be woken up by a distress call that just so happens to draw them to a planet filled with xenomorph eggs. Whether or not that has anything to do with the events we see in Alien: Earth is one of the show's biggest mysteries and certainly a potential future storyline. But that's a few years away in canon. Once the Nostromo gets the call, though, the events of the movie Alien take place over a few days. Then Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is lost in space for 57 years. Once awake, she learns the planet the Nostromo landed on, LV-426, now has a full colony of people on it, and so begins the plots of the next few movies. We mention all this because, in regard to Alien: Earth, there's about a 63-year window where it can operate without messing too much with the continuity of the original films. There is an exception, though, which we'll get to after explaining some more. In Alien, Ripley and her Nostromo crew work for a company called Weyland-Yutani. A company that, we later learn, knowingly sent the ship to LV-426 to pick up a xenomorph so that it could be brought back to Earth to study. A company that deemed the crew members expendable compared to the xenomorph. A company that, in Aliens and Alien 3, tries to do the same in different ways. It just really, really wants a xenomorph to study and, somehow, figure out how to weaponize. Alien: Earth starts on a Weyland-Yutani ship, the USCSS Maginot, which has been in space for 65 years. However, unlike the Nostromo, which was a mining ship, the Maginot has been specifically acquiring alien life forms, including the xenomorph. That ship, for reasons revealed on the show, then crash lands on Earth in a city controlled by a rival company, Prodigy. So, what Alien: Earth is saying is Weyland-Yutani is aware of xenomorphs (among other creatures) well before the events of the films and was *this close* to getting one back to Earth. The Weyland-Yutani mega-corporation was created due to a merger of two companies founded by the Weyland family and the Yutani family. We don't learn a lot about them in the early films, but in Prometheus, we see that Peter Weyland had grand plans about 30 years before the events of the show. Alien: Earth doesn't negate any of that, but it doesn't deal with it either. Instead, we spend a lot of time with the Yutanis, who are—at least in this moment—controlling the company. Basically, even though Prometheus takes place before Alien: Earth and certainly offers some larger context in regard to the xenomorphs and advancement of human technology, it's not crucial to the plot in any way. It just lives on its own. Watch it if you'd like, think about that it happened, but it doesn't play a role yet. As mentioned above, basically every Alien story is about people on Earth (mostly Weyland-Yutani employees) hoping to capture and harness the power of the xenomorph. To what end specifically? The movies never get there because the xenos almost always kill everyone first. But it's important to know that the drive for technological and financial superiority is crucial to the franchise. Whoever controls the xenomorphs could wield incredible power. If they can control them. One other crucial piece of Alien DNA that's in Alien: Earth is androids. Seemingly every Alien film has a Weyland-Yutani android as part of the plot. They are human-looking robots with white goo for blood who are loyal to their makers to a fault. That continues in Alien: Earth too, but we get to learn much more about them and their evolutions. Alien: Earth debuts with a two-part premiere August 12 on both Hulu and FX and will continue each Tuesday after that. Episodes drop at 8 p.m. ET on Hulu and 8 p.m. ET/PT on FX. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Alien: Earth Boss Teases the Show's New Alien Species Designed to ‘Get Into Your Nightmares'
In space, you don't just have xenomorphs to worry about anymore. FX's new series Alien: Earth — premiering Tuesday, Aug. 12 — brings the Alien film franchise to the small screen with a fresh story about a research vessel full of alien specimens that crash-lands on Earth. Yes, the infamous xenomorph from the Alien movies is onboard… but so are a number of new alien species developed for the TV show, including a creepy-crawly centipede that crawls inside your body like the ear bugs from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and a jellyfish-like creature that sucks out your eyeball and takes over your body. Scared yet? More from TVLine Alien: Earth Boss Talks Bringing the Sci-Fi Franchise to TV - and Down to Earth for the First Time Casting News: Olivia Colman and Brie Larson's FX Drama, Jax Taylor Exits The Valley and More Casting News: Alison Brie's FX Pilot, One Tree Hill Vet Joins Emily in Paris and More '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,' showrunner Noah Hawley told a group of reporters at a recent press screening. 'It's just unreproducible. You know that it's an egg, and it's face huggers, it's chest bursters, all that. So that's where the idea for other creatures came from.' He wants Alien: Earth viewers to feel the same dread that moviegoers felt seeing the xenomorph for the first time: '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 multiple times a week.' When it came time to dream up the new creatures, Hawley says, 'some of it is just, 'What's the worst thing I could think of?' And the fun of it is not just: What's the design of the creature? And who do they kill? And what do they eat? But also, then you have the opportunity of, 'Well, how do they reproduce?' And that's going to be gross.' The new aliens are specimens in a space lab, Hawley explains: 'They're in a zoo, basically, but they don't stay in the zoo.' And every aspect of the creatures' design 'all goes to the 'get into your nightmares' part of it. Mostly, my hope is that people who watch the show will never do anything comfortably again. Like, 'Should I eat that? I should probably pick that piece of bread up. Look at what's under it.'' Best of TVLine Summer TV Calendar: Your Guide to 85+ Season and Series Premieres Classic Christmas Movies Guide: Where to Watch It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Elf, Die Hard and Others What's New on Netflix in June
Digital Trends
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Alien: Earth: Release date, plot, cast, and everything we know so far
After decades spent in space and as a film franchise, Alien: Earth is bringing the Alien franchise both to Earth and to the small screen. The show, which has been in development for years, will finally hit television in 2025. Created by Noah Hawley, the show brings the xenomorph threat to Earth, which is not totally unprecedented in the history of this franchise, but pretty close. Given that a lot is riding on this show, it's natural for people to have questions about it. Here's everything we know: What is Alien: Earth about? The official synopsis for the show explains: 'When the mysterious deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot crash-lands on Earth, Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet's greatest threat.' Recommended Videos The story is reportedly set in the year 2120, just two years before the events of the original Alien and 16 years after the events of Alien: Covenant. At this point in Earth's history, the world is ruled by five massive corporations: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic, and Threshold. We know from the trailers that the main character is a synthetic, a fully human person whose mind was transferred into a new, enhanced body. We also know that the ship that crash-landed on Earth collected five dangerous alien creatures, which suggests that the xenomorph won't be the only thing on the hunt in this series. On a more thematic level, the show appears to be a meditation on the lines between artificial intelligence and humanity. This definitely isn't a new theme for this franchise, but given that the series is set on Earth, it's possible we'll interact with even more non-human characters than we have in the past. When is the release date for Alien: Earth? Alien: Earth is set to hit Hulu and FX at 8 p.m. ET on August 12. The show will debut with two episodes, with one episode debuting each week from then until the end of the eight-episode season. Episode Dates: Episode 1 – Neverland: August 12 Episode 2 – Mr. October: August 12 Episode 3 – Metamorphosis: August 19 Episode 4 – Observation: August 26 Episode 5 – TBD: September 2 Episode 6 – TBD: September 9 Episode 7 – TBD: September 16 Episode 8 – TBD: September 23 Are there any trailers for Alien: Earth? There have been tons of trailers for Alien: Earth, including a full trailer that was released on June 5. That trailer gives a pretty full understanding of the premise but doesn't offer a ton of spoilers beyond that. Overall, the trailers have given us the sense that this show is well-resourced and has the budget to be a long-term success. Who is in the cast of Alien: Earth? The cast of Alien: Earth includes: Sydney Chandler as Wendy as Wendy Alex Lawther as Hermit as Hermit Essie Davis as Dame Sylvia as Dame Sylvia Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh as Kirsh Samuel Blenkin as Boy Kavalier as Boy Kavalier Kit Young as Tootles as Tootles Adarsh Gourav as Slightly as Slightly Erana James as Curly as Curly David Rysdahl as Arthur Sylvia as Arthur Sylvia Babou Ceesay as Morrow as Morrow Adrian Edmondson as Atom Eins as Atom Eins Lily Newmark as Nibs as Nibs Jonathan Ajayi as Smee as Smee Diêm Camille as Siberian as Siberian Moe Bar-El as Rashidi as Rashidi Sandra Yi Sencindiver as Yutani Where can I stream Alien: Earth? FX's Alien: Earth. OFFICIAL TRAILER. We were safer in space. Premieres August 12 on @fxnetworks | Hulu and with #HuluOnDisneyPlus. — Hulu (@hulu) June 5, 2025 In addition to being released on Hulu, Alien: Earth will also be available to stream on Disney+ and to watch on FX if you have a cable subscription.
