Alien TV series will play with the structure of the xenomorph life cycle

Fargo TV series creator Noah Hawley has been developing an Alien TV series for “FX on Hulu” for the last couple years (here’s everything we know about it), and with all of the scripts written the show was able to go into production in Thailand earlier this year. Then it ran into some trouble due to the Screen Actors Guild strike, having to shoot around cast members who happen to be SAG members. But it’s still moving forward – and during a recent panel at the Austin Film Festival (as reported by Slash Film), Hawley hinted that he’s going to be shaking up some of the familiar elements of the Alien franchise, including finding a way to play with the xenomorph life cycle.

FX head John Landgraf has previously revealed the timeframe the Alien TV show is set in. He told Deadline, “There are some big surprises in store for the audience. Alien takes place before Ripley. It’s the first story that takes place in the Alien franchise on Earth. So, it takes place on our planet. Right near the end of this century we’re in — so 70-odd years from now. Ripley won’t be a part of it or any of the other characters of Alien other than the alien itself. … The Alien cinematic universe is a world that’s sort of dominated by large corporate entities, and Weylan-Yutani has been an important component of the movies. There are references to that corporation in this show. But it actually takes place in the territory of a different corporation that Noah invented.“

A late-2090s setting would place the events of this show in between the events of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Hawley confirmed the Earth setting and said the show will be exploring questions like, “What is this moment on Earth, technology-wise? And where are we? And the question science-fiction always tends to ask is, does humanity deserve to survive? So that seems like a really interesting question to continue to explore.” It will also feature an exploration into AI, and Hawley said that the original Alien reveal that crew member Ash was secretly an android inspired his ideas for the show.

Hawley went on to say the structure of the Alien films “always mimics the life cycle of the creature, right? Which is egg, slow, Facehugger, starts to get faster – you know what I mean? And of course, that’s great for a horror movie to build that way. So I found a way to kind of innovate around that structure and play with it.“

A synopsis for the Alien TV show has never been shared, but we do know that the series stars Sydney Chandler (Pistol), Essie Davis (The Babadook), Alex Lawther (The End of the F*cking World), Samuel Blenkin (Black Mirror), and Adarsh Gourav (The White Tiger). Lawther is known to be playing the male lead, a soldier named CJ. Blenkin is playing a CEO named Boy Kavalier. Gourav’s character is named Slightly, and Davis is playing Dame Silvia.

Ridley Scott is producing the Alien TV series through his Scott Free banner.

Are you interested in the Alien TV show, and in seeing how Hawley has been innovative with the structure / the alien life cycle? Let us know by leaving a comment below.