TV
‘Alien: Earth’ Creator Noah Hawley Previews What to Expect from New Species, Hybrids & More
The legendary Xenomorph crash lands on Earth and the small screen for the first time in FX’s highly anticipated new Alien TV show “Alien: Earth,” from creator and showrunner Noah Hawley (“Fargo,” “Legion”).
“Alien: Earth“ is set roughly 70 years in the future – yet two years before Ridley Scott’s Alien – in 2120, when “five corporations – Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic, and Threshold – wield the power of nations, and proprietary advancements in technology provide the promise of a new tomorrow.“
Earlier this year, Bloody Disgusting was invited to 26 Keys, Hawley’s production banner, to preview the first fifteen minutes of the “Alien: Earth“ premiere and pick the showrunner’s brain on what to expect from the inaugural season.
“This show, for me, came out of a conversation that I had a few years ago now with John Landgraf about the Alien franchise,“ Hawley said ahead of the footage reveal. “It’s one of those seminal movies for me from my youth. It’s always an honor to be entrusted with the visions of other filmmakers as I was with Fargo, and I don’t take it for granted at all that they’re big shoes to fill. All I ever try to do is figure out what the original made me feel and why.
“For me, that was the first two films. What did it make me feel and why, and then how can I create those feelings in an audience by telling you a totally different story? That’s what’s exciting about it. There are elements in the show that I think are going to provide those same feelings, but you won’t know that I put that in there because this other moment in the movie made me feel a certain way. It’s a more instinctual process.”
The showrunner is no stranger to reinterpreting seminal films for series format and knows what a daunting task it is to tackle such an iconic franchise. Hawley explains, “The biggest challenge on some level is how you take a horror movie, which, basically, is a monster movie. It’s a survival film, and so it’s a two-hour survival story at the end of which she survives and the monster’s kicked out into space. How do you turn that into something that can last for many, many years? That’s always character. It’s always people that you can invest in emotionally and a larger structure to a story that pulls the audience through from year to year.”
FX’s Alien: Earth – Pictured: (l-r) Jonathan Ajayi as Smee, Adarsh Gourav as Slightly, Sydney Chandler as Wendy, Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh, Kit Young as Tootles, Erana James as Curly, Lily Newmark as Nibs. CR: FX
Hawley continues, “The way that I thought about it originally is imagine that there have been six movies about the White Walkers, and they said make a television series out of that, and they made Game of Thrones. The monsters are definitely a critical part of it, but what are we talking about? What’s the show about? In those first two Alien films, there are a lot of big ideas in there about humanity and artificial intelligence and the primordial past that we can’t seem to escape, etcetera. That’s what went into it for me. I brought my team over there, literally, from Fargo. We went from, I think, 30 below zero to 115 above in a plane ride, and they got to work. I love that about FX. There’s no box I’m in, and that’s a testament to their faith and confidence in me.“
To further clarify, Hawley emphasizes that his comparison to White Walkers is conceptual. This won’t be a straightforward survival horror series that puts the Xenomorph front and center. “If you go back and watch the pilot of Game of Thrones, it starts with the White Walkers. They exist, they linger through. You can argue whether taking seven seasons to get to that confrontation was too long. But no, it was just my way of saying, and I did this with Legion as well, which is to take the superpowers out of it. What is the show? Take the monsters out of it. What is the show? It has to be a great dramatic show. Then you go, ‘And there are monsters.‘ It becomes this bonus that you get. Versus just saying, okay, we’re just going to do monster, action, and horror, and then what?”
That also means that Hawley is more interested in forging new ground than filling out connective tissue between the franchise’s films, despite it being set two years before the ill-fated crew of the USCSS Nostromo encountered the Xenomorph. “We’re telling a parallel story. I’m not actively engaging with the films themselves in terms of who’s on the other end of the phone or that idea. I’m not looking to connect it to those movies, literally. I think it’s more taking the elements of the original films and expanding them for my own purposes. It’s remarkable how little mythology there is to a franchise that’s six movies deep; all we really know about the way humanity is organized is that it’s built around a corporation, the Weyland-Yutani corporation. I just expanded that to more of a corporate power struggle.”
The first fifteen minutes of the series introduces one of the corporations caught in the power struggle: Prodigy. A tense opening credit sequence gives the Xenomorph the spotlight, but “Alien: Earth“ quickly sets about introducing some of its key players. It starts by establishing the crew of the USCSS Maginot, previously teased in footage tied to the series’ SXSW activation. It’s a ship not unlike the Nostromo, filled with blue collar workers. It’s also filled with unique alien species beyond the Xenomorph, many of them carnivorous in nature, which raises intriguing questions right away.
The most intriguing part, however, is the way the introductions to the Maginot crew establish tension surrounding its synthetic, one that seems to have developed an unhealthy obsession toward a human member of the crew. The dynamics and prejudices surrounding the Maginot’s synthetic feel like the proper launch point for the series’ core interest in exploring a new class of AI and synthetic: the hybrid.
FX’s Alien: Earth — Pictured: Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh. CR: Patrick Brown/FX
The other critical introduction in the series’ opening scenes is that of Wendy (Sydney Chandler), or rather the sort of birth of Wendy. “Alien: Earth“ sees a young, terminally ill girl at Prodigy headquarters wax philosophical with her favorite synthetic (Timothy Olyphant) about the nature of scorpions while on the precipice of a daring new journey that involves her transferring her life essence, her thoughts, and memories, into a synthetic body. The girl emerges with not just a new body, one more mature than her actual age, but a new name inspired by the fairy tale classic Peter Pan that’s reflected in Prodigy’s serene halls, Wendy.
It’s a new evolution for the franchise’s synthetics and one that will loom large over the series. Considering Hawley’s exploration of classism amidst an intense power struggle among corporations, will the hybrid’s new presence create another class within the ranks of synthetics and AI?
“I think clearly it will,“ Hawley answers. “Wendy, when she’s animated seconds after you stopped watching that clip, she becomes the hero of our story. Like Fargo, Alien, for me, is a female franchise. And it is very important to me that we explore that. This question of does humanity deserve to survive led me to a place where I thought, well, who’s more human than a child? They don’t know how to pretend they’re not afraid. They’re bad liars.
“So that idea of watching this child grow up basically having to face all the problems of the adult world and the choices that they make; I mean there’s that moment in Aliens where Sigourney [Weaver] says to Paul Reiser, ‘I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t fuck each other over for a percentage.‘ This idea that this kid is going to have to discover what human morality is, and the idea for me that the horror exists in many forms in the show. It’s not just body horror or creature horror; it’s also the moral horror of what people do to each other. If Wendy is a human being in a synthetic body, she has a choice to make; is she going to choose human or other? That becomes the drive of the story.”
FX’s Alien: Earth — Pictured: Sydney Chandler as Wendy. CR: FX
While the beginning of the series works to set up its human and synthetic characters, Hawley hasn’t forgotten its creatures. The series creator explained why he introduces new species, “One thing that I could never do with just the Xenomorph is to make you feel that level of shock and dread at like, wait, how does it reproduce? What does it eat? Instead of having this ship be simply something that had encountered Xenomorph life on a planet, it was sent out there to try to collect species from different planets like the HMS Beagle and Darwin, and that brought a few species into the story. Now, the audience has no idea how they reproduce and what they eat, and now we have the opportunity for the audience to feel the same feeling you felt in the original movie.“
The Xenomorph also received the same level of care and thought, with Hawley teasing some updates to the iconic movie monster, handled with practical effects as much as possible. “Obviously, there’s a Xenomorph,” he tells us, “and there’s a design challenge of saying, okay, well, let’s look at the Xenomorph across time. I had the ability to tweak on my own, which was really exciting. I tried to be as reverential as I could about the silhouette and the creature itself and wanted to have a reason to make any changes that I made. Then, of course, the other creatures that they come through first, there’s a concept, has to be a concept of it. Like what’s its function? What does it do? How is it upsetting to an audience? That becomes a practical design challenge of working with concept artists.
“We worked with Wētā,” Hawley reveals. “The process of a Xenomorph is that you first have to cast a suit performer because the suit has to be molded to that body and all those things. Then you hope the guy’s girlfriend doesn’t break up with him, and he goes on an ice cream binge or whatever. So all that stuff. For me, it comes down to how long is the shot? If I’ve got a guy in a suit with a tail on a fishing line, and the shot’s like a 10th of a second, I think I can paint out the fishing line, and you’re going to be happy with it. So I always erred on, let’s try it practically first if we can because there’s just no comparison in a way to the organic-ness of it.”
The fact that the opening scenes take place both on Earth and in space, combined with a robust cast list, signals a very expansive series ahead. Hawley revealed that he took inspiration and advice from a talented filmmaker known for his awe-inducing sense of scale. “I reached out to Denis Villeneuve when I was making this because I found as I went through the images that were going up on the mood board, the ones that weren’t from Alien were Dune or Arrival, and a lot of that has to do with a sense of scale. He’s so good at really feeling the bigness of things, creating, whether it’s a long lens or a full-scale person. He’s also so great at making something huge that feels so intimate at the same time. So, to the degree that he was willing to talk shop with me, we’ve had a couple of conversations about it because I think that’s what’s important. Television is not a small screen anymore. We’re making these things, as many people who’ve only ever seen Alien on a small screen or Dune on a small screen, but you can still feel that sense of scale.”
Hawley adds, “The show itself is a hybrid because, as I said, the Alien movies are survival stories. The show has to inherently not be the movies. What should it be? How do you make it compelling to the fans and the super fans that they feel like they’re getting that core Alien-ness? And then also expand its attraction to a non sci-fi audience in a way by telling compelling dramatic stories about character.“
“Alien: Earth“ packs the first fifteen minutes with new characters, settings, and creatures. That’s before the arrival of the Xenomorph. When asked which of this series’ monsters – human or otherwise – terrifies Hawley the most, his answer emphasizes the horror ahead.
“It’s interesting. You’d have to know more about them to know. But you should just know that for all of them in this season, there’s going to be a ‘no’ moment. There’s going to be that, ‘Nuh uh, I’m out moment,’ in some aspect of their existence. It’s strange to say that’s the fun of it. But of course, if you’re making Alien, the fun of it has to be if you feel like you have found something that will make someone feel a similar feeling of revulsion, and it’s an exciting thing.“
Original series “Alien: Earth” premieres August 12 on FX.
Five decades ago, Stephen King published the story of a bullied girl with telekinetic powers and forever changed the world of horror.
Carrie follows a high school misfit who seeks revenge for a hideous prank by psychically destroying her senior prom. The name Carrie White has become synonymous with the concept of a formal dance thanks to a flawless adaptation from Brian De Palma. Now fifty years after the film’s release, Mike Flanagan is putting his own stamp on the troubling story.
Rather than a feature film, the writer/director will expand King’s relatively slim debut novel into an eight-episode miniseries for Amazon Prime set to premiere on October 7.
Flanagan is no stranger to the world of Stephen King. A long-time Constant Reader, he first made waves with his daring adaptation of Gerald’s Game (2017), a novel many fans considered un-filmable. His underrated Doctor Sleep merges the disparate plot of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining with King’s original source material, and his 2024 genre-bending tearjerker The Life of Chuck faithfully executes one of the author’s most metaphysical novellas.
He’s currently mired in pre-production for an expansive adaptation of The Dark Tower series, keystone to King’s connected universe, and Warner Bros. recently announced that Flanagan will helm a new version of The Mist, King’s 1980 novella which sees a small Maine town overrun by otherworldly monsters.
Considering the vast array of the author’s previously unadapted material, an obvious question arises. Why reimagine Carrie in 2026? Noting the timeless nature of the content, Flanagan expressed his desire to bring the story of a bullied girl into modern times, mirroring his approach to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. He explained, “The only way to approach it was to build something new out of the ingredients of Carrie. Otherwise, there’s really no purpose in trying to retread ground that’s been so beautifully walked before.”
His miniseries will maintain the novel’s bloody bookends while delivering “big surprises” along the way.
A New Prom Night Nightmare
The roughly 60-second teaser introduces Summer H. Howell as Carrie White just before the moment of catastrophe. Standing in a prom dress, she smiles at her applauding classmates with an ominous crown perched upon her head. Moments later, Carrie unleashes a rage-filled scream into the night air while promgoers rush for the exit doors. But careful examination of this scene shows Carrie wearing a different, albeit dirty dress as she seems to telekinetically punish her peers.
In an exclusive first look with Entertainment Weekly, Flanagan explains that in his version of the story, “the events of that prom are going to be completely different.” An open trunk emitting a crimson glow does hint at the pig’s blood dumped on Carrie’s head, but it’s likely Flanagan’s formal dance will be a different kind of horror altogether. Despite these changes, the series may end with the widespread destruction outlined in the source material. Unlike any previous adaptations, King’s novel ends with the near-total destruction of Chamberlain, Maine. A flaming street in Flanagan’s trailer promises similar carnage no matter what prank sparks Carrie’s deadly revenge.
The Monstrous Addition of Social Media
On the opposite end of this fiery conclusion is an extreme act of bullying that brings together the story’s main cast. King’s novel begins as Carrie gets her first period while showering in the girls’ locker room. Completely unaware of the concept of menstruation, the sheltered girl thinks she’s bleeding to death. Her classmates respond with vitriolic rage. Led by ultra-mean girl Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton), they mock the terrified teen while pelting her with tampons. Glimpses of this disturbing event reveal that Flanagan has excised the scene’s nudity while adding a seismic update. As Carrie sobs in the shower stall, Chris and her friends film the breakdown with their phones.
Other scenes note the presence of social media, bringing King’s fifty-year-old story into the digital age.
Flanagan’s adaptation promises to explore the destructive power of social media, an often invisible entity with a potential for harm rivaling Carrie’s own powers. While King’s tormented heroine suffers in front of a small group of girls, Flanagan’s version of the incident will likely become a viral video, potentially circling the globe on social media. Similar to Katt Shea’s criminally underrated The Rage: Carrie 2, which includes elements of revenge porn exploitation, Flanagan’s modern retelling will distinguish itself by exploring the nebulous cruelty of online bullying, a force ten times more powerful than the irl pranks King first envisioned.
A Completely Reimagined White Family
In addition to modernizing these canon events, Flanagan hints at updates to Carrie’s oppressive upbringing at the hands of her mother, Margaret White (Samantha Sloyan). Dead before the novel begins, we never meet Carrie’s domineering father Ralph, known to carry a bible alongside his gun. Flanagan’s White household will be an altogether different beast. In his version of the story, Carrie and her mother have been hidden away in the unassuming home, forced out of hiding by Ralph’s unexpected death. Perhaps we will finally meet this elusive man whose shadow hangs over his wife and child. Considering the White family’s fundamentalist lifestyle, this reimagining hints at tradwife culture and a home ruled by staunch patriarchal control.
Whereas King’s Carrie has been tormented by her classmates since Kindergarten, Flanagan’s Carrie will be a wide-eyed newcomer to public school, eager to make friends and engage with her peers. We glimpse Carrie cozying up to Chris and the equally popular Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) as she navigates a new social scene. Of course, we know this kindness is part of an elaborate plot designed to lull Carrie into a false sense of camaraderie, setting up an atrocious act of public humiliation. These brief moments of feigned compassion put Sue’s own complicity into question. Will Flanagan’s version of the character find the courage to defend Carrie from vicious bullies or will she succumb to peer pressure and join in the mob mentality?
Perhaps the biggest deviation from King’s original text is the relationship between Carrie and her mother. King’s Margaret White is a horrifically abusive religious zealot whose worldview has been hardened by internalized misogyny. She shames Carrie for menstruating, locks her in a closet to “pray,” and regrets not killing her child in infancy. She’s also responsible for Carrie’s social ostracization. Known to berate her neighbors for their “sins,” Margaret forces her daughter to live by an extreme code of conduct and disallows any potential friends lest they corrupt the girl with their worldly ways.
Flanagan’s version of the character is perhaps just as much a victim as Carrie herself. Also trapped inside her home, his Margaret is overly vigilant, her own trauma manifesting as strict control. Describing a more sympathetic depiction of the iconic villain, Flanagan explains, “Our Margaret White is a woman who fiercely loves her daughter and wants to protect her from this world … [She] doesn’t know how to do that and thinks the way to protect her is to close her off; not punitively, but to create this private utopia.”
Despite this potential softening, Sloyan’s Margaret may still have a sharp edge. Though she has appeared in many Flanagan projects, from Hush (2016) to The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), she is best known for her role as the abhorrent Bev Keane in the poignant saga Midnight Mass (2021). Perhaps inspired by King’s Margaret White, Bev is pious and sadistic, willing to punish anyone who does not adhere to her warped approximation of Catholicism.
Flanagan specifically wrote Margaret with Sloyan in mind, likely remembering the actress’s eerie ability to create deceptive empathy and shift our allegiances on a dime.
Expanding Stephen King’s Telekinetic Universe
While most of King’s story deals with an unthinkable prom night in Chamberlain, Maine, large sections of the semi-epistolary novel see experts debating the nature of telekinesis. Do Carrie’s frightening abilities represent a new phase in human evolution or is the prom night carnage merely a fluke? King settles the debate with a shocking denouement in which a young mother recounts her infant daughter’s ability to dangle her crib toys in midair. We’re left to wonder if she will become another tormented girl who surprises the world with metaphysical strength.
Flanagan plans to build out this brief scene while amplifying themes of female empowerment. After introducing our main cast of characters, episode two will open with an unrelated story in which we meet another girl with the TK gene. Each subsequent chapter will expand this world, building out a roster of telekinetic young women. Considering King’s fondness for stories about powerful kids, often described as possessing “the shining,” Constant Readers will no doubt have their eyes peeled for various Easter Eggs nodding to the author’s vast catalogue.
Giving Carrie Her Own Voice
Perhaps the most striking distinction in Flanagan’s new trailer is the extent to which we hear Carrie’s voice. The sneak peek is fully narrated by the titular prom queen as she demands accountability. “I want to know why,” she explains while detailing Chris’ elaborate plan. Aside from the aforementioned coda, King’s book essentially ends with the aftermath of the prom night tragedy, leaving little time for Carrie to reflect. His shifting narrative does bring the reader into her fragile mind, though not before she’s been cowed by relentless cruelty. We watch Carrie sink into bloodthirsty revenge, but never hear a considered desire for justice or repair.
Flanagan’s original monologue allows Carrie to voice her pain and mourn the life she could have had. We’re also treated to a mug shot-style photo of Chris with a bruised and bandaged face, implying that the mean girl will have to answer for her senseless sadism.
Flanagan is known for filling his series adaptations with heartwrenching speeches that cut to the heart of his thematic intentions, and this teaser seems to follow suit. After years of fans, critics, and scholars analyzing Carrie’s pain, perhaps his modern retelling will offer the titular anti-hero a chance to finally speak for herself.
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