The upcoming Alien TV series for FX will not be a limited series, says showrunner Noah Hawley! Speaking to Collider recently, Hawley explained while his focus with Alien is on quality over quantity, he is planning for the series to spawn multiple seasons.
I think that endings are what gives a story meaning, and so you should never start a story without some sense of where it’s going because then you can really build that meaning into it. With Legion, I had what felt like a three-act structure to it that I didn’t know if that would be three seasons or five seasons, or whatever it was, but I sort of knew what a beginning, middle, and end was.
And here, similarly, I knew that their desire was for a recurring series, not a limited series, and I had an idea that I was excited about, that I could see the escalation of it from one year to another. That’s where we ended up not pitching them having a bible or pitching them blow-by-blow, but saying, “Big picture: this is the first movement, this is the second movement, and we’re ultimately going here.
They’re very good at that at FX, of not wanting you to milk something that feels like it’s over. Legion, for me, I thought ended quite elegantly in that last season with a sort of perfect circle, literally back to the opening image. If they’d said we want one more season, now you’ve got a detour and you’ve gotta sort of add a thing that’s not organic to the full story. It’s just better if the story itself can drive how long it is. We want quality, not quantity.
Earlier this month we learned that Noah Hawley is moving away from the established prequel lore explored in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant and that his Alien series aims to tackle some fairly broad topics, so a multi-season plan makes sense in order to flesh out all the concepts he's looking to explore.
You can check out the full interview over on Collider and be sure to let us know what you think of Hawley's remarks in the comments section below!
Cameras are expected to roll on the Alien TV series next month, so be sure to keep an eye out for more details!
