Earth succeeds where Ridley Scott’s Alien sequels failed

Alien: Earth delivers everything you’d want from a series with “Alien” in the title: The iconic Xenomorphs hunting down hapless humans; gratuitous body horror; and androids who you can never fully trust. But writer/director Noah Hawley (Legion, Fargo) and his team also manage to push the franchise to new heights, delving into the philosophical questions that Ridley Scott’s Prometheus and Alien Covenant couldn’t fully explore. It’s not just merely an Alien TV show — it’s a meticulously crafted experience that elevates the entire franchise, even more so than the recent Alien: Romulus.

The series, which premieres today on FX and Hulu, takes place two years before the original Alien. It starts with the familiar: A group of astronauts awakening from cryosleep on a retro-futuristic-Weyland Yutani shipping vessel. We learn they’re carrying precious extraterrestrial cargo, which predictably breaks loose and wreaks havoc throughout the ship. Meanwhile on Earth (somewhere we haven’t seen at all in the franchise), we’re introduced to a terminally ill child undergoing a radical new procedure: having her brain uploaded into a Synthetic body (played by Sydney Chandler).

This child takes the name Wendy — one of many Peter Pan references in the series — and embraces her new (and more mature) robotic body with childlike wonder. Instead of just being a frail kid, she becomes incredibly strong, with fast reflexes and the ability to jump down safely from great heights. It’s like she’s become an anime heroine a la Battle Angel Alita (at one point, she straps on a katana-like sword simply because it looks badass).

Wendy isn’t human, but she’s not a total android either since her personality and memories are uploaded from a human brain. She’s something entirely new. She becomes a sort of older sibling to other sick kids going through the same human-Synthetic hybridization process, and together they form their own spin on the Lost Boys (including some girls). They even go so far as to take names from Peter Pan characters (one kid, unfortunately, gets stuck with the name Smee, after Captain Hook’s cowardly lackey). And to her creator, Prodigy Corporation head Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), she’s the key to a future where people can cheat death and practically live forever in synthetic bodies.

The alien-filled spaceship ends up crash-landing in one of Prodigy’s cities in Southeast Asia (in this universe, five mega-corporations run the world, nation states no longer exist), and Boy Kavalier recklessly decides to test his new hybrid superteam with a rescue mission. They discover one survivor, Morrow (Babou Ceesay), a loyal security officer with a badass robotic arm, as well as a classic Xenomorph and a slew of new species. I won’t spoil much about them here, but I have a feeling the cheeky multi-eyeball parasite will quickly become a fan-favorite.

Alien: Earth finally immerses us in elements of the franchise the movies could only hint at. We see what a completely corporate-run Earth looks like, and it’s as gross as you’d imagine. As usual, Weyland-Yutani prioritizes its extraterrestrial treasures over the lives of its workers. But it’s even more sickening to see Boy Kavalier — the sort of obnoxious tech bro who defiantly puts his bare feet on desks during meetings — salivate at the opportunity to steal and study the alien cargo. Never mind the hundreds (and potentially thousands) of lives lost in his own city, or the inherent dangers in bringing deadly alien creatures into his research lab.

The series is at its best when it interrogates the big questions posed (with more or less deftness) by the films about the nature of being human. And where does that leave the new hybrids, who combine human memory and emotion with Synthetic bodies, who are somewhat immortal? In many ways, Alien :Earth seems just as cynical about humanity’s value to the world as Scott’s films. Humans will sacrifice countless lives for greed — maybe the planet would actually be better off without us.

With Prometheus, Ridley Scott aimed to explore the hubris of humans attempting to meet their creator, and the possibility the Synthetics (like Michael Fassbender’s David) may be more of evolved lifeforms. But the broader themes were bogged down by weak scripts (and from what I’ve heard, Scott’s own interference in the story). Alien: Covenant was even less memorable. Both films suffered from the demands of being big-budget blockbusters – they couldn’t slow down long enough to let the audience think, instead they had to rush to the next set piece. An eight-episode TV series made for a streaming network doesn’t have to play by the same rules.

Even if you don’t want to engage with bigger ideas, though, Alien: Earth remains an embarrassment of riches. It features entirely new ways for extraterrestrials, not just Xenomorphs, to dismember their victims. It’s filled with fantastic performances across the board — Sydney Chandler, who has more of Wendy’s spunky energy than her Peter Pan namesake, is a standout. Babou Ceesay’s Morrow is ostensibly an antagonist, but it’s heartbreaking to see what he gives up to become a dutiful corporate underling. (His robotic arm can also whip out a sick Wolverine-like blade. How can you not love that?!)

Fans of the great Timothy Olyphant (Justified, Deadwood) will certainly appreciate his performance as Kirsh, Boy Kavalier’s Synthetic security head. We don’t get the playful side of Olyphant that we saw in Justified, but it’s endlessly entertaining to see his contempt for all humans (including his own boss) simmering beneath the surface.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical that Noah Hawley could deliver a decent Alien TV series. Legion was all style and no substance in my opinion, and while I enjoyed the first few seasons of Fargo, the end of its run was uneven. But with Alien: Earth, he has made something special. It’s not the thematic upgrade that Andor was for Star Wars, but it’s a sign that there’s still plenty of life left in the aging Alien franchise.