Spoiler Alert: Spoilers follow for the first two episodes of Alien: EarthAfter five years of anticipation, the wait is finally over. Alien: Earth has made its long-awaited debut, and the two-part series premiere is now available to watch on Hulu, while new episodes air on FX every Tuesday night before streaming immediately afterward. Considering that it’s the franchise’s first expansion into television, and with the pedigree behind it (Noah Hawley of Fargo and Legion serves as the creator and showrunner), expectations have been astronomical.
Happily, if the premiere is any indication, the series is delivering in spades. Alien: Earth promises a familiar yet new take on Ridley Scott’s sci-fi/horror opus, delivering the Xenomorph action fans expect while expanding the lore in clever ways. Yet Hawley is also avoiding the mistakes of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant by keeping the right mysteries unanswered. All in all, there’s plenty to be excited about in the weeks ahead.
‘Earth’ Expands the ‘Alien’ Universe in Exciting Ways
Leading up to its debut, maybe the single most enticing thing about Alien: Earth was the fact that it promised to be the first entry in the series to fully delve into the latter half of its title. While the original film gave us enticing hints about Weyland-Yutani, whose efforts to study the Xenomorph drove the plot forward, it mostly kept their activities shrouded in mystery. Maybe the most exciting part of this week’s premiere was how it developed its surrounding mythology, revealing that Earth is under the control of five major corporations, Weyland-Yutani included.
Most of the story is told from the perspective of their biggest competitor, Prodigy, founded and run by the enigmatic Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin). In exploring Prodigy, we learn that the long-familiar androids are only a small part of a bigger corporate arms race. Kavalier has invented the “hybrid,” a person whose consciousness is transferred to a synthetic body to compete with the rise of artificial intelligence. The premiere promises the corporate warfare to heat up in the coming weeks, as Kavalier sends his hybrids to recover the findings within the crashed Maginot vessel, despite Weyland-Yutani’s claim to it. Thus far, it’s an intriguing way to build upon the original film’s themes of class and corporate power run amok.
‘Alien: Earth’ Introduces Interesting New Characters
But just like the first two films understood (and that Prometheus and Covenant forgot), none of this lore would mean anything without characters to care about. And while we can’t make a final judgment this early into the series, the good news is that the ensemble cast Noah Hawley has introduced has a lot of potential. Samuel Blenkin is clearly having a blast playing Boy Kavalier, expertly channeling megalomania and loneliness at the top. And while Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant) and the hybrids need more to do in the coming episodes, their team dynamic is thus far engaging and promising.
Yet it’s the two leads, Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and Hermit (Alex Lawther), who prove the emotional core of the show. Wendy hosts the consciousness of Hermit’s terminally ill sister, Marcy, and she only agrees to investigate the crash site because she knows that her brother is in danger. And their reunion, as Hermit slowly realizes who Wendy truly is, is incredibly touching, while the cliffhanger, which sees Hermit get captured by a Xenomorph, gives us a reason to stay emotionally invested going forward. Overall, it’s an incredibly strong start for Alien: Earth, and we can’t wait to see where it goes. Alien: Earth is streaming on Hulu, with new episodes every Tuesday night.
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