The upcoming Alien TV series being developed for FX on Hulu will not be another Ripley story, according to Showrunner Noah Hawley!
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Hawley explains that the new Alien TV series will explore a form of class warfare, saying "it’s about time for the facehuggers and xenomorphs to sink their claws into the white-collar executives who have been responsible for sending so many employees to their doom". Taking the Alien franchise in a new direction, Hawley elaborates on what we can expect from the FX series which begins filming next year! Read on for excerpts from the interview...
What’s next for me, it looks like, is [an] Alien series for FX, taking on that franchise and those amazing films by Ridley Scott and James Cameron and David Fincher.
Those are great monster movies, but they’re not just monster movies. They’re about humanity trapped between our primordial, parasitic past and our artificial intelligence future—and they’re both trying to kill us. Here you have human beings and they can’t go forward and they can’t go back. So I find that really interesting.
It sounds a lot like the Alien TV series will be incorporating elements of Ridley Scott's Alien prequels by Noah's reference of humanity's primordial, parasitic past and artificial intelligence future - two primary themes Scott himself leaned heavily on for his films Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Far more so than Cameron of Fincher did in their interpretations of the Starbeast. Noah was asked if the new series would involve or make reference to the iconic Ripley character from the original quadrilogy. Here's what he had to say:
It's not a Ripley story. She’s one of the great characters of all time, and I think the story has been told pretty perfectly, and I don’t want to mess with it. It’s a story that’s set on Earth also. The alien stories are always trapped… Trapped in a prison, trapped in a space ship. I thought it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of “What happens if you can’t contain it?” are more immediate.
Hawley also mentions that they're currently aiming to start filming next spring and insinuates that the series will involve some pretty robust visual effects, akin to Ridley Scott's visual masterpieces Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.
Beyond that, casting updates remains unknown and any further plot details remain shrouded in secrecy. However as we learn more, we'll be sure to keep you updated!
In short, the Alien TV series on FX for Hulu will be set in the distant future, on Earth, absent of any reference to Ellen Ripley and will involve Aliens somehow getting loose and wrecking havoc on whit collar executives (evil corporations).
How this will ultimately tie into the Alien series as a whole, without any prior reference to a Xenomorph outbreak on Earth having been mentioned (ignoring Alien vs. Predator films) will be one curious hurdle we hope Hawley has thoroughly considered.
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