Did Elon Musk inspire Episode 5 of Alien: Earth? Creator reveals

Created by Noah Hawley, Alien: Earth, is a sci-fi horror series featuring Alex Lawther, Sydney Chandler, and others. The show is the first TV series in the Alien movie franchise and is set two years before the events of the 1979 movie, Alien, starring Sigourney Weaver.

The show’s first season premiered on FX and FX on Hulu on August 12, 2025 and Ridley Scott is one of the executive producers on Alien: Earth. The show is about a hybrid woman Wendy (Chandler), who has a human consciousness and a synthetic body.

When a space vessel called Maginot crashes on Earth, Wendy and a group of tactical soldiers must uncover the mystery behind the space craft and uncover a deadly alien species. The show has eight episodes in its first season and five have been released till now.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, creator Noah Hawley talks about the viral fifth episode, which is a mini-movie in itself and explains a certain twist, while also making a reference to Elon Musk.

Alien: Earth creator Noah Hawley talks about the show’s viral fifth episode and the influence of Elon Musk

The fifth episode of Alien: Earth is titled, “In Space, No One…”, which is a part of the 1979 movie’s marketing tagline - “In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream.” Therefore, the episode builds up a certain expectation in the viewer’s minds and the episode delivers. It is a mini-movie that feels like the 1979 movie in a modern avatar.

This episode of Alien: Earth is a flashback and shows what happened aboard the Maginot space vessel, which caused the dangerous aliens to escape and the ship to crash on Earth. The ship’s interiors were also heavily inspired by the first movie’s ship, Nostromo, and the flashback contained a twist, which led the show into a new direction. Creator Noah Hawley remarks that he wanted to innovate the classic Alien movie, and also prove that the original movie can be done again in a well-fashioned manner.

The fifth episode revealed that Boy Kavalier was the one who sabotaged the Maginot so that it would crash and he could get his hands on the aliens. Talking about how someone like Kavalier could do this, who is a smart and famous genius, Hawley states that even in real life, there are genius people who have ADHD and control issues.

Finally, he makes a comment that makes it seem that the character of Kavalier was indirectly a reference to Elon Musk. In the interview, Hawley does not name the Tesla and SpaceX mogul but remarks, “It’s a statement, on some level, about the hubris we’re seeing around us by people who think they can go to space, re-invent travel, drill in the earth and enter politics…They’re doing all of these at the same time when none of them are necessarily being done well. They’re just all being done a lot,” Hawley remarks.

More details about Alien: Earth Episode 5

In an interview with Collider, Noah Hawley further talks about what went into the creation of Episode 5 of the series. He states that in the episode, he did a lot of handheld shooting and using the handheld approach emphasizes that things are going out of control. “Emotional state is reflected in the energy of the camera. So I definitely used that more."

Talking about where Episode 5 fits in the rhythm of the show, Hawley remarks that he is used to telling longer stories but since the show has only eight episodes, one has to cover a lot. He didn’t want to start the season on the spaceship and therefore built the story to a point that feels like a cliffhanger. Therefore, Episode 4 reveals that Wendy can talk to the Xenomorphs. Ultimately, putting in the flashback episode, so that viewers can see the story more clearly now. Further, Hawley also felt more pressure in this episode, as viewers had to forego the main story for this flashback episode. When viewers do go into Episode 6, they will know the backstory, he comments.

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Alien: Earth is available on Hulu.

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