Five Reasons To Stream FX’s Alien: Earth

Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien came with the tagline: “in space no-one can hear you scream”. Actually, we’ve been hearing space colonists, marines and scientists scream their bloody heads off for the better part of 50 years, across eight films directed by a list of legendary filmmakers including Scott, James Cameron and David Fincher.

In August, the Xenomorphs come hurtling back through the atmosphere when FX’s Alien: Earth premieres on Disney+. Set two years before Scott’s original film, Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley’s entry into the Alien timeline sees a mysterious spacecraft carrying literal nightmare fuel crash-land on earth. Wendy and the “Lost Boys” – a team of human-synthetic “hybrids” – are dispatched to investigate its deadly cargo. Cue screaming.

The Alien franchise thankfully has more hits than misses, and when it hits – hoo boy, does it hit. Whether you’re a cold-blooded sceptic, a diehard fan, or the words “facehugger” and “Fassbender flute” mean absolutely nothing to you, here’s why Alien: Earth looks promising as hell.

Ridley Scott rates it

Ridley Scott’s filmography is basically unassailable. So, with one of the most important filmmakers of a generation onboard as the series executive producer, that’s gotta count for something.

Noah Hawley is really good at making TV

Hawley took the Coen brothers’ black-comedy masterpiece Fargo and used it as a blueprint for one of the best TV series of the last 20 years. Imagine what he’ll do with Alien. As well as earning Ridley Scott’s blessing, Hawley consulted with Denis Villeneuve (Dune, Incendies) on how best to evoke both massive scale and intimate tension.

Home is where the horror is

There’s some small comfort in knowing that, if Xenomorphs were real, they’d be wreaking havoc in some dark, unforgiving corner of the universe a long way from our own. But as the series’ title suggests, the nightmare will unfold in our own backyard – on Earth for the first time in the franchise. That change of scenery alone is a boon for OG fans.

The cast is stellar

Alien: Earth jolts the franchise in other ways. For one: new creature designs. For another, the introduction of hybrids and a power struggle between Prodigy and the Weyland‑Yutani corporations, giving depth beyond the franchise’s tried and true creature horror. Sydney Chandler, of Don’t Worry Darling fame, leads the human(synthetic) cast alongside veterans Timothy Olyphant and Australia’s own Essie Davis.

This is only the beginning

Say what you will about some of the more recent instalments in the Alien franchise, Scott’s vision hasn’t lost the power to conjure our worst nightmares or take our money. And clearly, we can’t get enough – which is why Alien: Earth is confirmed for multiple seasons. Thought it was game over, man? Not by a long shot.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Disney+.