Alien: Earth—Can bringing Xenomorphs home end well? (TV series: trailer)

When you’ve had your fill of being trapped on gloomy spaceships and planets so remote they make Milton Keynes look cheerful, what’s left to do but bring the screaming, acid-blooded, HR Giger nightmares home to Earth? Enter Alien: Earth, Noah Hawley’s upcoming prequel TV series, proving once and for all that humans learn absolutely nothing from five decades of science fiction horror.

Set two years before Ridley Scott’s iconic 1979 film Alien, Alien: Earth lands a crashed spaceship—and presumably a whole heap of trouble—onto our unsuspecting little blue marble. Rather than immediately running away screaming (the sensible option), we get a classic ragtag team of tactical soldiers, corporate overlords from Weyland-Yutani (the IKEA of galactic evil, assembling nightmares with inscrutable instructions), and a young woman named Wendy (played by Sydney Chandler), described intriguingly as having “the body of an adult and consciousness of a child.” Honestly, this sounds suspiciously like every politician we’ve ever voted for.

Adding to this madness is Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh, Wendy’s mentor-slash-synthetic trainer. Now, having Olyphant as your mentor might usually be reassuring—unless, of course, you’re trying to survive against murderous extraterrestrials. Historically, synthetic mentors in this franchise are about as reliable as a train service during a snowstorm—only slightly less homicidal.

But wait, there’s more. Alex Lawther joins as CJ, a soldier presumably wondering why his life choices led him to being chased by monstrous space parasites on his home planet. Then there’s Essie Davis as Dame Silvia—because nothing says classy like a title when you’re running from xenomorphs—and Adarsh Gourav playing a character called “Slightly.” Slightly what? Slightly terrified? Slightly doomed? Slightly regretting signing up for Weyland-Yutani’s employee benefits programme?

Directed and written by Noah Hawley, whose knack for blending existential dread with snappy storytelling (Fargo, Legion) seems perfectly suited to a franchise that thrives on paranoia and shocking twists, Alien: Earth promises to be a fresh nightmare with comfortably familiar DNA. Hawley assures us this series will lean into the atmospheric claustrophobia and slow-building horror of Ridley Scott’s original—none of the flashy, slightly-too-philosophical shenanigans of the later prequel films. Good news for fans who prefer their alien terror straightforward rather than requiring a philosophy degree to decode.

Filming took place largely in Thailand, interrupted only briefly by strikes—presumably the actors’ unions were demanding a stronger clause against actual face-hugging incidents. Wise move, if you ask us.

With Hulu releasing the show in mid-2025, there’s still plenty of time to mentally prepare yourself, or perhaps book a cosy bunker somewhere nice and isolated—like Skegness. The series clearly intends to remind viewers that there’s no need to seek danger in the vast emptiness of space when you can just crash-land it in your own backyard.

Here at SFcrowsnest magazine, we’ve learned that humans never tire of inviting disaster home, whether it’s dinosaurs in theme parks, Terminators in Los Angeles, or xenomorphs popping round for tea. So buckle up, keep an eye on your cat (Jonesy taught us nothing, evidently), and stock up on flamethrowers. You never know when your planet might be selected as the next prime real estate for extraterrestrial horrors.

As always: in space, no one can hear you scream—but on Earth, expect complaints from neighbours and possibly a strongly worded letter from the local council.