The Aliens are finally coming home. The upcoming FX series, Alien: Earth, marks a significant shift for the legendary sci-fi franchise, transporting its extraterrestrial terror from distant planets to our very own blue sphere. And judging by the new teaser, Earth is in for a terrifying encounter like no other.
For 45 years, the Alien franchise has kept its monsters far from home. From deep space marine bases to prison colonies, the Xenomorphs have lurked in environments that, while hostile, were far from Earth. But now, Alien: Earth, from Fargo creator Noah Hawley, is taking these creatures into fresh, horrifying territory: our own backyard. Set in the far-off year 2120, the teaser shows just enough to stoke excitement—including the chilling reflection of our planet in the faceplate of a Xenomorph.
The series, set to debut on FX next summer, will also mark the franchise’s first foray into television. The teaser leans into nostalgia, using key art that riffs on Ridley Scott’s original 1979 poster—an ominous image of Earth as a Xenomorph egg. Noah Hawley’s unique brand of storytelling promises to bring more than just scares, offering new perspectives on corporate power and class struggles that have always bubbled beneath the Alien surface.
Humanity, Meet the Xenomorphs (and Sydney Chandler)
Taking the lead in this series is Sydney Chandler, who you may remember from Don’t Worry Darling and Apple TV+’s Sugar. She’s joined by a stellar ensemble, including Justified‘s Timothy Olyphant, Essie Davis, Alex Lawther, Babou Ceesay, and many more. It seems Hawley is opting for a diverse, international cast—a likely nod to the global stakes of bringing Xenomorphs to Earth.
This latest addition to the Alien universe was announced way back in 2020, and it’s been teased ever since that this story will take on themes of inequality. Hawley intends to shine a light on the corporate forces that have always been lurking behind the franchise. While previous films kept their focus on the unfortunate souls (space marines, prisoners, blue-collar ship crews) under the thumb of Weyland-Yutani, this series seems set to bring the corporate overlords front and center.
“You’re also going to see the people who are sending [the spaceship crews],” Hawley said in an earlier interview, suggesting the show will delve into the machinations of the powerful—and what happens when the inequalities we know today are left unchecked. It’s a bold narrative direction that feels especially relevant now.
Xenomorphs, Class Struggle, and a Dash of Dread
The teaser doesn’t give too much away, but it doesn’t have to. Seeing a Xenomorph poised to wreak havoc on our familiar landscapes is alarming enough. Hawley has promised that Alien: Earth will bring the series’ classic horror elements along with a dose of social commentary—think Xenomorphs versus late-stage capitalism.
Alien: Earth will hit Hulu exclusively in the summer of 2025. It’s officially branded as an FX production, but, unlike its extraterrestrial predecessors, you won’t need to look to the stars—just your streaming queue.
Get ready. Earth just got a whole lot scarier.
Hot Take
So how is Alien: Earth going to function in the grand scheme of the Alien franchise? If we look back, each film has followed a certain formula, with escalating threats and increasing numbers of Xenomorphs. In Ridley Scott’s original Alien (1979), the protagonist, Ellen Ripley, faced off against one terrifying creature—an isolated threat that, while deadly, was singular. There was only one alien, unable to reproduce, but still dangerous enough to put an entire ship’s crew to the test. It was about containment, about dealing with that one monstrous intruder.
Fast forward to James Cameron’s Aliens (1986), and the franchise went bigger—way bigger. Cameron didn’t just double down; he multiplied. Suddenly, there were aliens, aliens as far as the eye could see, plus the introduction of the Xenomorph Queen, who was terrifying in her reproductive power. This film was about scale, about the overwhelming odds of facing a horde that kept coming, and about fighting back with sheer firepower.
Alien 3 (1992) took things back to a single Xenomorph, albeit in a new setting—stuck in a prison colony. It felt thematically like a return to being trapped with one merciless, new variation of the species, with a desperate struggle to survive. Then came Alien: Resurrection (1997) and the subsequent Ridley Scott prequels—Prometheus and Alien: Covenant—which delved into the origins and motivations of these creatures, exploring philosophical themes about creation, destruction, and the hubris of humankind. Most recently, Alien: Romulus took us back to the Xenomorph’s brutal nature, with terrifying sequences on a mining colony and a nearby space station.
One commonality runs through all these films: the eventual escape or elimination of the alien threat. When everything goes to hell, the protagonist’s goal is always to:
- Get rid of that one pesky Xeno
- Leave all that hell behind
But now, with Alien: Earth, we’re faced with a whole new dynamic. It’s no longer just about surviving and escaping a confined space like a ship or a colony. Earth is our home, and there’s nowhere left to run. This raises an intriguing—and terrifying—possibility for how the series will unfold. Either they’ve got some kind of weapon that can eliminate Xenomorphs with relative ease, or—and what seems like the more likely and more horrifying option—they’re going to treat it like a global pandemic, a zombie apocalypse on steroids.
Picture this: A Xenomorph is brought to Earth by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, in their undying pursuit of the “perfect” soldier. But things go wrong, as they always do, and the Xenomorph gets loose. It starts to reproduce, spreading like wildfire, and before long, humanity is facing a rapidly escalating nightmare. The Xenomorphs are no longer contained; they’re everywhere—turning Earth into an inhospitable wasteland for all but their kind. This could lead to the near-complete annihilation of humankind, with the Xenomorphs inhabiting any and all life forms they can get their claws into.
It’s bleak, but that’s what makes it exciting. Hawley’s series could finally push the franchise into the one direction it hasn’t fully explored: what happens when the Xenomorphs come home, and there’s nowhere left to escape to? Humanity might be fighting not just for survival but for reclaiming its own planet.
