We finally have some concrete details about Noah Hawley’s upcoming Alien sci-fi series. FX chief John Landgraf shared some hot xenomorph gossip while talking about the project at the Television Critics Association press tour and it’s bad news for Ripley fans.
The Alien movies leading lady Ellen Ripley won’t appear in the TV series, but don’t worry there’s a good reason she won’t appear. The series is taking decades before the Nostromo first ran into that damned killer egg and it’s set on Earth, not in the deep cold void of space.
“Alien takes place before Ripley. It’s the first story in the Alien franchise that takes place on Earth. It takes place on our planet, near the end of this century we’re currently in – 70 odd years from now,” Landgraf explained. “All I can tell you is Ripley won’t be a part of it, and neither will any other characters – other than the alien itself. There are some big surprises in store for the audience.”
The Alien series was first announced in late 2020 at the Disney Investor Day presentation. The announcement Alien was moving to the small screen was met with mixed reactions, which is understandable considering the film is often hailed as one of the best science fiction movies ever made but Landgraf has done his best to assuage concerns.
“I hope [fans] will feel like it’s faithful to the franchise they love but also a brave and original reinvention of that franchise. Setting it on Earth is really interesting,” Landgraf continued. We have to think forward about the future of the planet in terms of the environment, governance, technology and create and design a version of the planet in the future … Noah wants to do that in a distinctive and original way.”
If you love Alien then check out our list of the best alien movies ever made.