Alien: Earth’s five alien species — From iconic xenomorphs to horrifying new lifeforms, explained in depth

FX’s Alien: Earth doesn’t settle for unleashing the franchise’s signature acid-blooded terror on a new stage. It drags an entire menagerie of extraterrestrial nightmares down to our planet.

When Weyland-Yutani’s bio-weapons transport crashes into the heart of a futuristic megacity, its cargo hold spills open and five alien species are set loose in the chaos. Four of them are horrifying newcomers, joined by the iconic Xenomorph, each with its own biology, hunting methods, and role in the carnage.

From parasites that hijack your body to carnivorous flora waiting for prey, Alien: Earth reframes the franchise’s fear not as a lone stalker in the dark but as a complex ecosystem of evolution’s most brutal designs, now roaming free on our home turf.

Xenomorph (classic alien species)

The Xenomorph is the most familiar of the five species in Alien: Earth, the acid-blooded nightmare first introduced in Ridley Scott’s 1979 film. In the series, this is a Drone-type Xenomorph, around seven to eight feet tall, with an oily black exoskeleton, an elongated eyeless skull and the iconic double jaws that snap forward with lethal force. Its whip-like tail and razor-sharp claws make it as much a weapon as a predator. The creature’s pressurized acidic blood is as dangerous as its bite, eating through metal and flesh alike.

The lifecycle remains the same. It begins with an egg that hatches into a Facehugger, which implants an embryo inside a living host. Hours later, the host dies as a Chestburster erupts from their body, growing rapidly into the adult drone. In Alien: Earth, this process is a reminder of how every stage of the creature’s existence is a threat.

When the Weyland-Yutani transport ship Maginot crashes into the megacity, the Xenomorph escapes containment. It quickly proves why it is the franchise’s apex predator, tearing through corporate security teams and civilians with brutal efficiency. Its selective aggression becomes clear when it bypasses an artificial being to target human prey, suggesting a deliberate hunting preference.

This is the closest Alien: Earth comes to the original template, but its urban setting adds a new layer to the terror. Instead of stalking through the corridors of a derelict spaceship, the Xenomorph now moves through the vertical sprawl of a city, where no one is prepared for what it can do.

Eye Octopus (Species 64: T. Ocellus)

The Eye Octopus is the first entirely new creature Alien: Earth puts in motion after the crash, and it earns its place in the franchise’s nightmare gallery. Small and gelatinous, it has multiple flexible tentacles radiating from a central body that houses a single enormous eye. That eye is more than a visual organ. It can shift its iris structure into a compound pattern, giving the creature a panoramic awareness of its surroundings.

Its attack is fast, targeted, and personal. The Eye Octopus launches at a victim’s face, rips out one of their eyes, and then implants itself directly into the empty socket. From there, its tendrils weave into the host’s nervous system, turning the body into a living puppet.

It does not need to kill first. It can control a dead host as well, using the body for mobility before abandoning it for another. One early sequence shows the parasite emerging from a cat’s skull after having used it as a host, a grotesque reveal that establishes how easily it can hide in plain sight.

In Alien: Earth, the Eye Octopus escapes its containment during the Maginot’s crash. Wendy and the Lost Boys, genetically modified humans sent to retrieve the alien cargo, manage to corner and trap it again, but only after it nearly secures a human host. Its intelligence is emphasized through point-of-view shots, making clear that it stalks and reacts with calculated precision.

Unlike the Xenomorph, which overwhelms through strength and speed, the Eye Octopus thrives on stealth and subterfuge. It does not spread by creating a hive or laying eggs in every victim, but the unpredictability of its host control makes it dangerous in a different way. In the wrong environment, it could turn friends, allies, or even pets into weapons, and no one would see it coming until it was already inside.

Blood Bugs

The Blood Bugs are insectoid aliens that bring swarm horror into Alien: Earth. They are small but formidable, with segmented bodies and translucent sacs near the rear that swell dramatically after feeding. Their legs are quick and clawed, able to anchor into flesh as they burrow, and some possess spinnerets that produce sticky webbing to immobilize prey.

They prefer ambush over open pursuit. After the Maginot’s crash, they remain hidden, waiting for the right moment. When they attack, they strike in groups, latching onto victims and tunneling inside to consume blood and organs. The sacs on their bodies expand as they gorge, giving them a grotesque, engorged appearance.

Evidence recovered in the wreckage suggests that they reproduce by laying eggs inside a living host. When the eggs hatch, the juveniles emerge in numbers, tearing their way out in a burst of lethal activity.

Their first major scene in Alien: Earth comes when two separated crew members find themselves trapped in a ruined lab. The bugs descend on them in seconds. By the time help arrives, the men are dead, their bodies hollowed out, and the bugs have vanished into the shadows with their engorged sacs trailing behind them.

The survivors learn from recovered data that these creatures are extraterrestrial in origin and follow a reproductive cycle disturbingly similar to parasitoid insects on Earth.

The Blood Bugs differ from the Xenomorph in both scale and strategy. They are not singular apex predators but multiplying parasites. One host can produce a brood, creating a potential outbreak far faster than a Xenomorph hive could. They lack the acid blood or armored durability of the Alien, but they compensate with sheer numbers, the ability to hide in small spaces, and the unpredictability of a swarm. In the cityscape of Alien: Earth, they represent a quieter but equally devastating threat, one that could spread unnoticed until it is far too late.

Flower Bud

The Flower Bud is the most plant-like of the alien species in Alien: Earth, but its stillness hides a predatory nature. It resembles a large, fleshy pod with petal-like segments and fibrous texture, suspended upside down from the ceiling by a natural stalk or tendril. From its base extends a long, rigid proboscis that tapers to a sharp point, capable of reaching out toward nearby movement.

It does not chase prey. Instead, it waits. When a living creature enters its range, the proboscis shifts toward the target in a slow, deliberate motion, hinting that it can sense either heat or vibration. The exact purpose of the spike is unknown. It could inject venom, drain fluids, or implant something inside the victim. Its closed petals suggest that it might open under certain conditions, possibly to feed or release spores, but this has not yet been shown.

In the early episodes, Wendy’s team spots the Flower Bud clinging to a corridor ceiling in the wreckage of the Maginot. They keep their distance as the proboscis inches outward, aware that getting close would mean giving the creature its chance. So far, it has been treated as a hazard to avoid rather than an active hunter, but its design suggests it will eventually play a more direct role in the series’ danger.

The Flower Bud differs sharply from the Xenomorph’s aggressive mobility. It is stationary, relying on lure and ambush rather than pursuit. Its threat is immediate to anyone who wanders into range, and its plant-like biology opens the possibility of reproduction through spores or seeds rather than live hosts. This shift from animal to flora expands Alien: Earth’s sense of what alien life can be, showing that even a motionless bloom can be just as lethal as the galaxy’s most infamous predator.

Cricket Bug

The Cricket Bug is the least explored of the five alien species in Alien: Earth, but even its brief appearance suggests a dangerous mix of power and agility. It is a large insectoid creature with a segmented body and six limbs, its hind legs visibly built for explosive jumping. The exoskeleton appears sturdy, and the rapid, forceful movement it displays hints at strong musculature beneath.

We first see it in the Maginot’s cargo hold before the crash, where it suddenly leaps onto the glass of its containment unit. The motion is quick and precise, showing that it can cover distance in a single bound and cling to vertical surfaces. While no direct attack has been shown yet, its size and strength imply that it could overpower a human in close quarters.

So far in the series, there is no sign that the Cricket Bug escaped during the crash. This leaves its threat hanging over the story like a loaded trap. Its eventual release feels inevitable. Given its build, it may be a pursuit predator, closing the gap between itself and its target with a single leap. It might also use its legs defensively, delivering crushing kicks if cornered.

Compared to the Xenomorph, the Cricket Bug is likely less strategic but far more animalistic, relying on reflexes and brute physicality. It does not appear to reproduce through hosts or coordinate with others of its kind, suggesting it is a solitary predator rather than a species that could overrun the city. Its danger lies in the sheer force and unpredictability of an encounter, making it a different kind of challenge for any character unlucky enough to face it.

The ecosystem of Alien: Earth

Alien: Earth turns the franchise’s signature creature into part of a much larger picture. The Xenomorph remains the apex predator, a perfect organism designed for relentless pursuit and lethal precision. Around it, the Eye Octopus brings body-snatching paranoia, the Blood Bugs swarm with parasitic hunger, the Flower Bud transforms a corridor into a death trap, and the Cricket Bug waits with explosive speed in reserve.

Each species in Alien: Earth expands the possibilities of what alien life can be within this universe. Together they form an ecosystem rather than a single threat. Some operate through stealth, others through overwhelming force, and a few through patient ambush. The result is a layered kind of horror in which survival means navigating multiple forms of danger at once.

By placing all five species on Earth, Alien: Earth strips away the isolation of deep space and turns familiar environments into hunting grounds. It shows that the deadliest thing about alien life is not any single monster but the way they coexist, compete, and adapt when set loose together.

In Alien: Earth, humanity is no longer facing the Alien, it is facing a world that now belongs to them.