By bringing the bloodthirsty xenomorph to Earth, FX’s upcoming prequel TV showAlien: Earththreatens to make Ellen Ripley’s story in theAliensaga completely pointless.Alien: Earth, which will be the first live-action TV series set in theAlienuniverse, is being created, written, and directed byFargoandLegion’s Noah Hawley. FX has released an official synopsis for the show teasing an enticing Earthbound storyline. When a mysterious spaceship crash-lands on Earth, a ragtag band of soldiers will make a shocking discovery that brings them face-to-face with the biggest threat in the universe.
Sydney Chandler leadstheAlien: Earthcastalongside Alex Lawther, Timothy Olyphant, and David Rysdahl. Whereas the latest movie in the franchise,Alien: Romulus, was slotted in betweenAlienandAliens, the new TV series is a prequel set three decades before the originalAlienfilm. The show is set to be released on FX on Hulu sometime in 2025.The recently released teaser forAlien: Earthis promising to bring at least one xenomorph to Earth, and that plot point could retcon the original movie seriesto the point of rendering Ripley’s entire story pointless.
Does Alien: Romulus Connect to the Upcoming Alien TV Show?
Alien: Romulus is a stand-alone story, but could it be connected to the upcoming Alien: Earth TV show?
The Xenomorph Being On Earth Before Alien Drastically Retcons The Franchise
The xenomorph aboard the Nostromo was supposed to be humanity’s first contact
Theteaser forAlien: Earthshows planet Earth from space before revealing it’s being reflected on the shiny black head of a xenomorph. The teaser is only a few seconds long and doesn’t feature any plot details, but it seems to promise that the show will bring a xenomorph to Earth. By putting a xenomorph on Earth three decades before the events of the originalAlienmovie,Alien: Earthis retconning a huge part of this franchise. It’s always been accepted that the terror on the Nostromo was humanity’s first contact with the xenomorph.
But if a xenomorph or possibly even multiple xenomorphs are coming to Earth inAlien: Earth, then that will no longer be the case;Ripley and co. won’t be the first humans to come face-to-face with a xenomorph after all. This completely changes the foundation that the entire franchise is built on.Alien: Romulushonors that foundation and expands on it with the revelation that “Big Chap” survived being shot out of Ripley’s escape shuttle. This slightly altered the canonical events of the original film, but not in a way that undermined it.
Alien: Earth, on the other hand, will totally undermine the originalAlienmovie by revealing it wasn’t humanity’s first brush with the xenomorph.PrometheusandAlien: Covenantalready ruined some of the mystery ofthe originalAlienmovieby revealing that the xenomorphs aren’t just random killers that exist out in the far reaches of space; they were specifically engineered to be humanity’s mortal enemies. By having humans encounter xenomorphs on Earth, long before the events of the first film,Alien: Earthwill ruin what’s left of that iconic mystery.
Humanity Encountering The Xenomorph On Earth Ruins The Point Of Ripley’s Story
Being the first person to kill a xenomorph is what made Ripley special
If the human race encounters xenomorphs on Earth inAlien: Earth, then it’ll ruin the point ofRipley’s story in theAliensaga. In the firstAlienmovie,Ripley was supposed to be the first human to have encountered a xenomorph and lived to tell the tale. When she’s picked up by the Sulaco inAliens, they want to know everything she knows about the xenomorphs. They send her down to the xenomorph-infested colony with the Marines because she already survived a scrape with a xenomorph, so she’s in a unique position to help them tackle the infestation.
ButifAlien: Earthreveals that humanity survived a scrape with a xenomorph decades earlier, then Ripley suddenly won’t seem so unique. It’s like whenStar Warsrevealed that Darth Maul survived being bisected by Obi-Wan Kenobi and thrown into a bottomless pit. It was really cool that Obi-Wan was the first Jedi in 1,000 years to defeat a Sith Lord, and bringing Maul back to life ruined that. Just likeStar Warsmade Obi-Wan less special, theAlienfranchise is making Ripley less special for the sake of giving the franchise more fertile ground to plant stories in.
Alien: Earth Won’t Be The First Alien Property To Bring The Xenomorph To Earth
Alien vs. Predator already brought the xenomorphs to Earth
AlthoughAlien: Earthis ripping a huge hole in theAliencanon by bringing the xenomorphs to Earth, it won’t be the firstAlienproject to bring the xenomorphs to Earth.Alien vs. Predatorbrought both the xenomorphs of theAlienfranchise and the Predators of thePredatorfranchise to Earth for a showdown. The crossover movie sees a team of scientists stumbling upon a battle between the xenomorphs and the Predators while on an archeological expedition in Antarctica. It soon becomes apparent that there can be only one victor in this battle, and they’re caught in the middle.
LikeAlien: Earth,Alien vs. Predatortakes place before the events of the originalAlienand features humans encountering xenomorphs. Butthe difference is thatAlien vs. Predatorhas never really been considered canon to theAlienfranchise(or thePredatorfranchise, for that matter). It was a fun experiment, and a great monster movie, but it wasn’t an official part of the canon.Alien: Earth, on the other hand, is claiming to be a part of the official franchise canon. Whatever happens in the show will be considered canonical, and that’s very worrying.
How Alien: Earth’s Xenomorph Story Can Work Without Breaking Canon
It is possible, but they’ll have to get creative
It would be possible forAlien: Earth’s xenomorph storylineto work without breaking the canon of the franchise, but Hawley will have to get creative with it.Alien: Earthpromises to give audiences a closer look at the Weyland-Yutani Corporation than any previousAlienstory. The company is usually shown through the eyes of its employees, like the space truckers inAlienor the space miners inAlien: Romulus.Alien: Earthwill offer some insight into the company’s duplicitous operations back on Earth.
Rather than retconning the originalAlienmovie,Alien: Earthcould enhance its storytelling.It could explain how the company knew about the xenomorphand why they sent the Nostromo into space with the secret goal of bringing a xenomorph back to Earth. It can act as a more direct prequel toAlienthanPrometheusandAlien: Covenant.Alien: Earthcan set up exactly why the company is so obsessed with capturing a xenomorph.
Alien: Earth
Cast
When a mysterious space vessel crash-lands on Earth, a young woman (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.
