Alien: Earth director reveals final screen time for franchise monsters, the Xenomorphs, in the new series

The FX series Alien: Earth is preparing to shift how Xenomorphs are shown within the franchise. Under director Dana Gonzales and showrunner Noah Hawley, the approach departs from short appearances and opts for extended, more visible scenes. These creatures, often kept to the shadows in previous films, now take center stage in a format that allows them to dominate the screen in ways that haven’t been possible until now.

Instead of sticking to traditional moments of surprise or quick terror, the series gives time and space to the monsters. Gonzales confirmed this change in an interview with Collider, noting that the screen time for Xenomorphs in Alien: Earth will exceed that of any previous Alien movie. His statement places the creatures at the narrative core of the project, with major sequences designed to highlight them in full.

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Physical effects and real creatures

One of the most distinctive elements of the show is its practical approach. Gonzales stated:

“We don't have any CG Xenomorph. It’s 100% real.”

The decision affects not only the main alien forms but also the facehuggers and even the eggs. All were built physically by the Wētā Workshop team, known for its detailed, real-world visual effects.

He added:

“And the Facehuggers we have, they're all real. I don't know how many we have, but we have many Facehuggers that do different things. So there are mostly real creatures.”

The team’s emphasis on realism enables longer, more detailed shots. Gonzales explained:

“I think we designed something that is very photographable and scary and detailed.”

That design philosophy allows the Xenomorphs to be seen more often and more clearly than in previous films.

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How Alien: Earth builds action through episode structure

Gonzales outlined the early structure of Alien: Earth, which will open with a major event in Episode 1. That episode introduces key characters and sets the tone. However, it's in Episodes 2 and 3, both directed by Gonzales, that the action intensifies. He explained:

“There's been a little bit of a rewrite between 2 and 3. Two used to be super massive. Now 2 and 3 are both massive.”

This restructuring has a direct effect on the monsters' presence. Gonzales noted:

“There's a lot of Xenomorph activity going on wall-to-wall.”

He also compared it to the films by saying:

“All the movies, if you really study them, are like, 20 frame, two seconds, they show the Xenomorph. We have huge sequences where all you're seeing is the Xenomorph.”

These scenes rely on stunt performers and practical techniques.

“We have a pretty incredible performer that's doing it and a great stunt team. We're asking them to do a lot,” Gonzales said.

The result is a shift in tone, moving away from brief scares and toward sustained suspense.

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Returning mystery to the creature

While Gonzales focused on the technical and visual side, Alien: Earth showrunner Noah Hawley spoke about the creative direction. According to Hawley, the goal was to bring back the fear and uncertainty that defined the earliest Alien films.

“I am trying to re-mystify Alien,” he said.

Hawley highlighted how the original horror worked.

“So much of what made that first movie and the second movie so horrifying was that every time you thought you knew what the lifecycle of this creature was, it just got worse.”

He continued:

“It was like, okay, it's an egg, and this giant crab comes out and grabs your face, and you think, ‘I'm out.’ Then it's like, ‘No, I'm not done.’ Now, the giant crab lays another egg inside of you that then bursts out of your chest, and you're like, ‘Okay, game over.’ Then it's like, ‘No, now it grows to be 10 feet tall.’ Then James Cameron added, ‘Well, who's laying those eggs?’”

To bring back that unpredictability, the series needed to introduce new rhythms, not just new images. Hawley concluded:

“You're never going to get an audience to be surprised by that again, and so I've tried to come up with ways that the show returns that sense of, ‘What's going to happen next? That's so gross!’”

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Longer format, more immersion

Alien: Earth’s eight-hour structure gives space to explore not only characters and plot, but also atmosphere. Practical effects support this pacing. Gonzales shared that even the alien eggs are complex enough to feature in sustained shots.

“Even the eggs are quite sophisticated, and we can show them,” he said.

Compared to the typical ninety-minute film with only a few minutes of creature footage, the longer series format allows those moments to unfold naturally.

Gonzales added:

“I think that's gonna be the strength of the show, especially to have eight hours of that compared to an hour and a half movie and, like you said, four minutes. I don't know our running time of creatures, but it's going to be quite a bit.”

The idea is not only to show more, but to slow the experience down, making it more tense and layered.

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Release and anticipation

Alien: Earth is scheduled to premiere on August 12, 2025, on FX. Gonzales and Hawley have both emphasized different but complementary goals: more creature presence, more physicality, and a return to mystery. That combination has already attracted attention from fans of the franchise, who have long waited for a version of Alien that expands both the scope and the terror.

While the franchise has seen various interpretations over the decades, this new project signals a renewed interest in grounding the horror in tangible detail and narrative suspense. The Xenomorph, rather than a fleeting shape in the dark, is being reintroduced as a force that dominates space, movement and fear.