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Highlights
- The new Alien TV show needs to prioritize horror over action, as the franchise is best known for its horror elements, building tension, and instilling a sense of dread through suggestion and anticipation.
- The TV series should tie into the continuity of the original Alien films, grounding itself in the same world and incorporating elements that expand on the established lore, even if it doesn't feature the original characters like Ripley.
- Easter eggs and cameos from the original films and other related properties can add value to the show, as long as they are done well and contribute to the overall story and world-building.
Ridley Scott's Alien premiered in 1979, giving audiences a film to remember for generations. The world of Alien expanded shortly after Scott's movie, spanning three direct sequels that featured Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley. The studio went on to license out the property, creating various sequels in different media from video games to comic books. Ridley Scott eventually returned to deliver two prequels that showed how it all started. Now, with the upcoming TV show, fans of the franchise get to return to the world of Alien with a considerably different setting.
Every Alien installment took place on a ship or small colony where the threat could be contained. Made by Fargo's Noah Hawley, the Alien TV show will take place on Earth instead, showing a story where the threat has the potential to break free and end the world as the characters know it. This new TV series for FX will need more than just brand recognition to survive longer than one season. Hawley is an excellent storyteller, but if he isn't considering these few features, the show will meet an untimely end.
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The Xenomorph Isn't The Biggest Enemy In the First Two Alien Films
In sci-fi horror's most famous movies, the real monster isn't the one that Ripley fights — it's the company who put them in the alien's path.
Alien Needs to be Horror First
Ridley Scott's Alien film definitely falls into the science fiction genre, but it's a horror movie first and foremost. James Cameron's Aliens falls more in line with action, but there are still elements of horror. The Alien franchise works best as a horror franchise rather than an action one, and a TV series needs to follow suit. Building tension throughout the season, such as leaving much to the audience's imagination, will carry the show further than diving into the action straight away. Jump scares are good, but they get old fast. Instilling a visceral sense of dread through suggestion and anticipation adds more value to a narrative.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to horror properties. One school prefers significant focus to be on the creature. People watched The Walking Dead because they wanted to see zombies, and expressed disappointment when an episode honed in on the interaction between the human characters. Others enjoy the "less is more" approach to horror. This allows a project to focus more on the characters, showing what makes them tick and using them to explore the layered emotions of fear. Ridley Scott, whether intentionally or not, was more conservative with the portrayal of the xenomorph in the same way Steven Spielberg slowly revealed the shark in Jaws.
Noah Hawley is no stranger to injecting horror and mystery into his projects. His work on FX's Legion gave the audience a sense of claustrophobia and disorientation that elevated the mystery. That series focused on the characters and their choices while keeping the looming horror of the Shadow King ever present, without having him in the audience's face. Meanwhile, fans boast Fargo as one of the best thrillers on FX in the past decade, which shows a good amount of Hawley's talents.
It Should Tie Into the Continuity of the Original Alien
Alien and Aliens are the best movies in the series, and fans regard Ripley as one of the best heroines in film history. It would be a mistake not to ground the TV series in that world, especially when those first two films did such great world-building. Hawley told Vanity Fair in 2021 that he's not trying to tell an Ellen Ripley story, saying:
She’s one of the great characters of all time, and I think [her] story has been told pretty perfectly, and I don’t want to mess with it. [The Alien series is] set on Earth also. The alien stories are always trapped…Trapped in a prison, trapped in a spaceship. 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.
It's commendable that he's not trying to retell Ripley's story, but Hawley should make it clear the series is in some way set within the same world of the original movies. Hawley is actively working with Ridley Scott, director of the first Alien movie, on the production of the series for FX, but that doesn't always mean a project is related to the original incarnation.
Hawley's new TV series takes place 70 years before the events of Scott's original film, making it impossible to include Ripley or any of the original characters (except potentially Ash, the android). This could serve to reveal how the Weyland-Yutani Corporation knew about the xenomorphs. Fans know from various comments throughout the Alien franchise, specifically Alien: Resurrection, that Earth is a slum or wasteland of sorts. Perhaps the xenomorphs running rampant at some point have something to do with it.
Easter Eggs and Cameos are Always Welcome
Cameos always add a level of satisfaction for fans. They also add value if done well enough. Predator 2 teased the existence of xenomorphs within the same universe, when Danny Glover's Mike Harrigan wandered onto the Yautja's ship and saw a collection of trophies that included a xenomorph skull. This fueled the eventual Alien vs. Predator stories, from novels and comics to two live-action films. Hawley's Alien show could repay the favor with a hint of the predator race in some capacity. Doing so might even lead to an AvP story that takes place during the Alien time period rather than Earth's past.
Unfortunately, taking place seven decades before the original Alien prevents any mention of the original characters. There are other creative ways to include aspects of the first movies, though. Androids and AI exist in Hawley's series. Naming an android Ash or an AI MU/TH/UR would be a nice nod to Scott's film. Introducing a Colonial Marine carrying the Hicks name could do Michael Biehn's character from Aliens some justice, after his off-screen death between Aliens and David Fincher's Alien 3.
There are a number of ways Hawley can use cameos and Easter eggs to tie the whole Alien franchise together, including Prometheus. While fans are likely to scour single episode of the show for Easter eggs, the show should implement them sparingly and only if it adds value to the story. Jurassic Park's Ian Malcolm said it best when he said, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." If it's not going to add anything substantial to the world of Alien or the show, it shouldn't.