We're still waiting for word on whether FX/Hulu's Alien: Earth will be renewed for a second season (though the series was fairly popular with fans and critics, reports indicate that viewership wasn't particularly strong), but it sounds like showrunner Noah Hawley has a pretty good idea of how he would like the story to progress should he get the opportunity to continue the series.
The season 1 finale, "The Real Monsters," concluded with Wendy, Hermit and the other hybrids - along with a pair of xenomorphs - taking control of Prodigy research centre and imprisoning Boy Kavalier, Kirsh, Dame Sylvia, Atom Eins and Morrow. A victory, but possibly a short-lived one.
“That moment of, ‘Now we rule,’ is such an exhilarating moment for the audience. And then the question is… well, it was an exhilarating moment when Dustin Hoffman ran out of the church and they got on the bus [in The Graduate]. But what comes after?” Hawley tells Empire. “The [Weyland-Yutani] ships are coming and all they have is problems.”
In addition to focusing on the immediate aftermath of the hybrid coup, Hawley hopes to be able to move beyond the island and explore more of the corporation-ruled planet (the show is called Alien: EARTH, after all).
“I’m interested in exploring the corporate politics of it,” he adds. “As we’ve seen, there’s an irresistible gravitational pull toward monopoly that corporations and billionaires have. There’s a bit of Game Of Thrones to the corporate world that feels interesting to me. I do think this story of these children’s autonomy continues to be the heart of the show, but Alien is always about levels of containment.
The island is a level of containment and what happens when you expand past that level? Ultimately, the show is called Alien: Earth. I know that, given the canon, I can’t blow up the Earth, but I do think that containment is going to be very hard to maintain.”
“Because it’s a story about humanity trapped between nature that’s trying to kill us and the technology we’ve created that also seems to be trying to kill us, that feels a lot like the world that I live in,” he adds, “and so I feel like there’s a lot there to really grapple with.”
What did you make of the first season of Alien: Earth? Let us know in the comments section.
“When the mysterious deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot crash-lands on Earth, “Wendy” (Sydney Chandler) and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat.”
“In the year 2120, the Earth is governed by five corporations: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic and Threshold. In this Corporate Era, cyborgs (humans with both biological and artificial parts) and synthetics (humanoid robots with artificial intelligence) exist alongside humans. But the game is changed when the wunderkind Founder and CEO of Prodigy Corporation unlocks a new technological advancement: hybrids (humanoid robots infused with human consciousness). The first hybrid prototype named “Wendy” marks a new dawn in the race for immortality. After Weyland-Yutani’s spaceship collides into Prodigy City, “Wendy” and the other hybrids encounter mysterious life forms more terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined.”
Alien: Earth stars Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Timothy Olyphant, Essie Davis, Samuel Blenkin, Babou Ceesay, David Rysdahl, Adrian Edmondson, Adarsh Gourav, Jonathan Ajayi, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Diem Camille, and Moe Bar-El.
The show's supporting cast includes Richa Moorjani, Karen Aldridge, Andy Yu, Enzo Cilenti, Max Rinehart, Amir Boutrous, Victoria Masoma, Tom Moya, Michael Smiley, Jamie Bisping and Tanapol Chuksrida.