Alien Earth Finally Feels Like Alien Again
Alien Earth might honestly be the best Alien story since Aliens. After years of entries that either looked great but made zero sense, or just turned into dumb bloodbaths, this new series finally feels smart, grounded, and actually human. In this video essay I break down why the show hits so hard.
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What is Alien: Earth?
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 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. 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.
On February 17, 2022, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the series is a prequel taking place before the events of Alien (1979). Hawley himself confirmed that the series will be tied more into the style and mythology of the original 1979 film rather than the prequel films Prometheus (2012), and Alien: Covenant (2017). In April 2023, chairman of FX Productions John Landgraf stated that the series was in active pre-production. 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.
In May 2023, Sydney Chandler was cast in the lead role, followed by Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, Essie Davis, and Adarsh Gourav in July. Timothy Olyphant and David Rysdahl would be among those added to the cast in November 2023.
Principal photography was scheduled to begin in March 2022, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Production on the series began on July 19, 2023, in Thailand. 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. In late August, the production was halted due to the strike with most of the first episode completed. Filming resumed in April 2024, and wrapped in mid-July. Dana Gonzales, Bella Gonzales and Colin Watkinson serve as cinematographers.
The score for the series was composed by Jeff Russo. The soundtrack was released on Hollywood Records on August 12, 2025. The episodes end on famous heavy metal music songs because Hawley decided to highlight the cliffhanger endings by "mak[ing] an arena show, something that feels bigger than a small theatre", featuring tracks by Black Sabbath, Tool, Metallica and Queens of the Stone Age. The soundtrack from the fifth episode In Space, No One…, released as a stand-alone album on September 2, 2025.
Alien: Earth premiered on FX and FX on Hulu with the first two episodes on August 12, 2025. Subsequent episodes of the eight-episode season will be released weekly. Prior to the series' release, the first episode was shown early to attendees of the series' panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 25.
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