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The Alien franchise is expanding with FX's Alien: Earth, a prequel series of Ridley Scott's 1979 film. Created by Noah Hawley, the science fiction series is set two years before the events of the Alien film.
The series follows the crash of the Weyland-Yutani spacecraft on Earth, which unleashes five different extraterrestrial life forms on the planet, posing a big threat to humanity. Wendy, the first hybrid prototype, is tasked with containing the species and saving humanity with her group of tactical officers.
Alien: Earth stars Sydney Chandler, Timothy Olyphant, Adarsh Gourav, Samuel Blankin, Essie Davis, and Alex Lawther in lead roles.
Alex Lawther, most famously known for his roles in Black Mirror and The End of the F***ing World, recently discussed the core themes of the show in an interview. The actor teased that Hawley's show is the perfect balance between sci-fi action and intellectual themes, and poses complicated questions about Artificial Intelligence and the nature of humans.
Alien: Earth will premiere on FX and FX on Hulu on August 12, 2025.
More on this in our story.
Alex Lawther breaks down the core themes in Noah Hawley's Alien: Earth
Noah Hawley's Alien: Earth follows two kinds of threats, the 'extraterrestrial past and a technological future'. While the science fiction show follows the unleashing of different life forms on a near-future Earth, it also explores the growing threat of Artificial Intelligence, also featured in the recent season of Netflix's Black Mirror.
In addition to being a prequel to Scott's Alien lore, the show also explores themes of AI, where synthetic/artificial bodies are being developed to place human consciousness. Chandler's character, Wendy, is the first prototype of this hybrid between humans and artificial bodies, and is tasked with saving Earth from other life forms.
While saving humanity from extraterrestrial beings is the core premise of Alien: Earth, the task is placed in the hands of somebody 'not-human'. While featuring some exciting sci-fi action, the show also asks intellectual questions of what it means to be a human, as Alex Lawther discussed with The Hollywood Reporter:
''When this extraterrestrial being confronts these very vulnerable human life forms, there’s immediate questions: What is the difference between that creature over there and myself here? And therefore, subtle questions [about] what it is to be a human being when you’re faced by something that is supposedly inhuman.''
He added:
''That question is taken even further. There’s not only this primordial, extraterrestrial Xenomorph, threatening past catching up with us, but this future, this synthetic artificial human future is looming, is on the horizon. Does it pose a threat to us as human beings?''
Alien: Earth: Alex Lawther's character symbolises the major dilemma of the show
In Alien: Earth, Alex Lawther plays the character of Hermit, the sibling of the girl whose consciousness is put inside the grown-up body of Wendy. While Hermit believes that his sister (Marcy) is dead, he will discover a new connection with Wendy, who contains his sister's consciousness.
The core dilemma for Hermit is his relationship with Wendy, who does not look like his sister but carries her essence inside her non-human body. Discussing Hermit's complicated relationship with Wendy, Alex Lawther further added:
''That fine line between humanness and non-humanness. The character that I play is on the side of the humans, but he’s confronted by the possibility of something more than human, because suddenly it’s his sibling that is in this non-human body.''
''The thing that he thought he knew as his flesh and blood, is also something more? Does that make her as much his sibling as ever, or less so? I think that’s quite a disturbing question for us.''
While Wendy teams up with a group of tactical soldiers to save humanity from the unleashed alien species, Hermit reconsiders his relationship with her non-human body with his sister's consciousness.
Alex Lawther's comments suggest that Noah Hawley's Alien: Earth is not just a prequel series or an expansion of the Alien franchise, but a show that poses difficult questions about the future of AI and its looming threat to humanity, similar to the extraterrestrial beings.
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