Even though we’re eagerly awaiting the soon to be released, Predator: Killer of a Killers animated anthology film, that doesn’t mean there’s no Alien news to go around. Noah Hawley, the showrunner of the anticipated series – Alien: Earth, which starts airing on the 12th of August, has revealed more of his thought process behind creating this upcoming installment in the Alien franchise, during a recent interview with A. V. Club.
Hawley’s primary goal with Alien: Earth, as he tells The A.V. Club, is to evoke the feeling of first watching the original film in the theaters decades ago, as the Nostromo‘s crew fight for their lives after coming in contact with a dangerous species. But what happens when the Xenomorphs descend on the green planet, where they can attack millions against the backdrop of lush forests and burgeoning industrial cities? Is that when we find out humans, with their corporate greed, have been the real monsters all along?
In a question about why Noah Hawley chose to set the story 2 years before Alien, he had this to say:
Yeah, after seven Alien movies now, it’s kind of a busy highway on some level, timeline-wise. It felt like the way to give myself the most leeway as a storyteller was to take myself out of the traffic and put myself in a standalone place in which I could explore the mythology of Earth and humanity in this franchise. That aspect has been underserved in the films, with questions like “What’s the government on Earth like?” and “Do we get along or have we solved our problems?” We know various corporations have succeeded, but that standalone spot allowed me to tell my story.
He was also asked about how much will the how be about the revealed 5 companies compared to how much screentime will the Alien get.
My take on it is the same as when I did Legion. In that case, if you take the superpowers out of it, what’s the show? For this one, if we take the creatures out of Alien: Earth, is it a show? Is it a drama? Are there characters you’re invested in? If you build a great drama, and then add the monsters into it, now you’ve elevated it. If all you have is monsters, you’d better have 400 minutes of the most exciting creature stories ever told. But if it works dramatically, the creatures can be a tool in exploring the larger themes of the show as well as adding horror, action, and all those elements.
On the question of Wendy’s character which will be our main protagonist, played by Sydney Chandler, we learn some more information about her.
On some level, science fiction has one main question. And that question is whether humanity deserves to survive—in all these stories of the first contact or going out into the universe and meeting species that are either smarter than us or more deadly than us. The issue for me then became to explore humanity at its best and its worst. Sydney’s character is humanity at its best, most innocent yet bravest in many ways. Wendy is someone who holds other humans to account for lying, cheating, stealing, bad behavior, manipulating each other, trying to own other people—all those sorts of things.
Too often in this world, we’re told that life is too complicated to make simple choices. But it’s either good or bad at the end of the day. We either deserve to survive or we don’t. So that’s her goal as a proxy for us, which is to ask, “I don’t know, these creatures are bad, but what about this guy?” There’s a line in in the second movie, I think, which is something like “At least the [aliens] don’t fuck each other over for a percentage.” So that’s the sweet spot where the show lives.
The interview goes forward with discussing what is it like to work with a larger cast and the fact that Noah Hawley doesn’t intend to bring back any legacy characters. In discussing the reason for the lack of familiar faces in the upcoming series, he does word his statement in a particular manner:
No. I’m sort of outside the timeline, so I didn’t think about bringing anyone back from those films. I’m liberated from that. It’s a dangerous world, the fan service of it compared to an artist’s ability to tell their story. I think there’s something very satisfying in a Star Wars movie to seeing Han Solo again, right? But this story wasn’t built on the timeline to be able to take advantage of the surviving characters from that franchise. Not many people survive in an Alien movie. Even [Ripley] didn’t survive.
This may very well just be his phrasing of not being in between the films of the original quadrilogy, if he’s not counting the prequels into this saying, but it is entirely possible to speculate that this could imply that the series takes place in an alternate continuity. Whatever the case may be, we’ll find out on the 12th of August. Be sure to check out the full interview for all the details at A. V. Club. Thanks to skhellter for the news.
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It's just selfishness on my part about technically "wiping" out the EU set after Aliens/3. It restricts what they can do after Alien 3 in the wider universe and the films. Well, it should have restricted. The EU during the reboot age didn't really care about the line and set a bunch of stuff there anyway
I completely understand why it's there and the impact it makes on Resurrection's narrative and showing Ripley's sacrifice was actually worth something.
I never had a problem with the focus on AI in the prequels, so I'm fine with what Hawley has to offer, but what annoyed me was how David's character was just personally not as interesting in Covenant compared to Prometheus.
All of this, plus the irony of the instrument of their destruction also being the instrument of their resurrection.
Re: the interview I do hope the people who got shitty at Riddles for obsessing with AI too much don't get to shitty at Hawley for obsessing over AI too much.
Why though? To me, it just underlines the fact that Ripley succeeded and her sacrifice was not in vain. She prevented the company from getting their hands on the Alien, saving God only knows how many lives. It took 200 years before anyone could pick up where Weyland-Yutani left off. And as has been noted, just because the company and the USM couldn't find any Aliens during those 200 years doesn't mean they weren't out there or that nobody encountered them. It just means that evidence of those encounters were never found by the Company/USM.
This is the first I am hearing of this. I hope to God its true because that would be a VERY good sign. Cohesion between the two upcoming projects can only be a good thing. On the flip-side, if Fede reached out and was brushed off by Hawley... Well, that would be a tragic waste.
I don't believe that's been known. At the very least, I certainly don't recall hearing about it. I seem to remember hearing stuff along the opposite lines, about them not having spoken, but more so from Hawley's camp/perspective, IIRC.
Is there any word if they actually did end up chatting at all?
I believe Fede actually reached out to Noah. I can't remember if that's known or not.
The literal worse line in the entire film. But in this day and age, we do pick and choose and ignore so...
I would not be surprised at a severe lack of competency within a governmental entity to be much better...I see it...
Yep, after Rez, all is possible. I hope it doesn't come down to something silly like Noah wanting the Alien aesthetic and themes, so he literally glues the show near the Alien era? Like, is it that impossible to conceive that a similar style exists here and there centuries on...? But even that makes no sense, cause reportedly, the ship will be very Nostromo like, but the Earth thing will be very different and new. So why not after Rez?
Okay, then about the post Alien 3 gap? Yes, Rez meant what it meant, but it's not like that every and any midquel and prequel isn't giving more "and they had to have covered it up" vibes for the main Quodrilogy to work. So if we already need coverups, why can't the post Alien 3 stuff get covered up? That would be the least painful solution.
I will applaud the brave Director that one day sets a film or show post Alien 3, and cry with joy if they go after Rez. Then you really are completely free to do whatever without stepping on the toes of what came before. And fans will be more relaxed. Wouldn't that be great?
I think you're onto something there. Maybe a certain, well known director/executive producer had sway after all.
Yeah, in this way the Alien: Earth pitch almost feels like a bizarro sequel to the old quadrilogy.
However, he may be more seduced by the relative retrofuture of the 2120s.
Also maybe a post-Alien: Resurrection series was the initial plan and Fox/Disney rather wanted to keep things localized to the "prequel era".
Quite right. There is plenty of room for encounters with the Aliens after Alien3 and before Resurrection, but the outcome would have to be that there are no survivors or no physical evidence. So, for example, a crew discovering some Ovimorphs in a cave on some faraway rock isn't impossible. But, that crew would either all have to die, or they get away but without any physical proof.
At the end of AlienS, the Derelict was definitely nuked. Either by the APP explosion or, offscreen, by Ripley and Bishop. They wouldn't leave with this piece of shit still standing in the mountains quietly, waiting for next victim. Furthermore, the way the Company obstinately wants to get the Ripley specimen in Alien 3 indicates that nope, LV-426 is now a dead end.
I was talking about checking other planetoids in the Calpamos system. Including the one with a clearly visible network of highways.
Sure, they did. It's just that they all ended with Bishop's Countdown and big explosions.
Both mainline movies and extended universe make the 1997 film absurd by this point, anyway.
Like, if various political entities want to get their dirty hands on Plagiarus/urns/eggs/embryos/queens/whatever so much, Prometheus clearly establishes LV-223, set in the very same solar system as LV-426, has multiple weapon facilities/storage/facilities/bombers.
It's an open supermarket for bioweapons there, with A NETWORK OF ROADS leading to places of interest.
Did no one go to check the place for centuries? Really?
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Weyland-Yutani lost an entire colony in this specific solar system, with a full squad of Colonial Marines to boot, and months later had a way more documented incident with multiple live witnesses and video recording on Fiorina 161, and they wouldn't check this system at all anymore?
Or limit their search to the one planetoid?
When they scraped space for Nostromo wreckage in Alien: Romulus?
I don't make the rules.
I'm just so tired of every aliens in the movies, apart from covenant, coming from LV-426, when they could be Eldritch space roaches who pop up somewhere random in the galaxy every time people think they have being exterminated.
I would be mad if we see David becoming the Space Jockey, not only because the idea is stupid, but because it would mean that we have to see LV-426 again!
While AlienS and Alien 3 happen in a matter of months, and so aren't this limiting.
And yet, nothing more promising than "blood samples from Fiori 16 on ice" from which to clone an alien was available to the USM.
I don't think it is the reason.
The general instructions at Disney/Fox regarding the development of the franchise are apparently currently "Alien and AlienS are sacred, but for the other movies, anything is fair game".
And Resurrection is the last movie anyone onboard will care about contradicting. Commercially, it buried the Alien franchise for years, and this quote is like two lines of dialogue lost in what currently represents a dead evolutionary branch of the continuity.
There could be thousands of worlds with xenomorphs on them beyond the frontier.
I think that this is the reason they don't want to make alien movies set between 3 and resurrection and that annoys me so much, because they could have just made it the LV-426 strain that was wiped out and not the entire species.
I Agree. They could always go down route of broad strokes canon with Alien Resurrection. As in the events more or less happened but not too important to core canon.
If there is ONE movie in this franchise I would not be entirely angry about seeing retconned out, it is Alien: Resurrection.
Explicitly, neither Whedon or Jeunet respected the series they were entrusted with. Why should then should their participation be particularly taken into account?
Removing any entry is still a shitty, childish move, I do not want to see the events of Resurrection erased... but some losses are less important than others.
#TeamRomulus
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"With 200 years of free space post Alien³- why choose to set your series just prior to the original film?"
That's also what I don't get with his statement. He says he wants to not be in a crowded place in the timeline and proceeds to do exactly that. In the most crowded place possible. Preceded by 2 very close prequels and will be followed by the whole of the old Quadrilogy plus Romulus.
Heck even Romulus put itself in a 57 year gap between the first 2 films. And he has the post Alien 3 200 year timeline.
And he chooses to stick his series 2 years before Alien?
That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever with the answer he provided. That's what's confusing me...
Yeah, I think in the last years we've all been wondering why the hell Noah didn't set it after Alien 3.
Post Alien 3? He has a whole 200 years to play with.
Yes.This is key
As I said.
Mangold set Logan in the distant future, 2029, to have independence in the same universe.
Mangold confirm that there were continuity errors, but they were errors that did not change the fact that it was the same universe.
Noah does the same:
"It's not that I didn't do a timeline around the events," he clarifies.
This means that it is the same line
"But I didn't expand it to incorporate everything that had ever been written."
This means that he hasn't analyzed them 100% and won't put everything together to connect them (as Fede tried).
So he acknowledges that there will be errors in the universe itself.
FX/Fox wanted Legion to be in the same X-Men universe, but after filming, they changed their minds. The show was too personal and contradictory.
Officially, FX didn't change their minds about Earth. Same universe as before Alien .
As they explained Chronologically before events of Alien.
There will surely be mistakes but it is the same line.
Noah says "to take myself out of the traffic", meaning he chose a time and place in the existing timeline he thought to be relatively non-crowded.
The term "standalone" may simply mean he intends for the series to be able to be appreciated autonomously from the movies.
He is doing his own timeline because he wants to have aliens on Earth. something that wouldn't really work in the main series.
We still do not know if the show has its own timeline.
Noah's words on the matter remain as ambiguous as ever, and if anything, personally, I would take this new interview as a clue that it is NOT a separate continuity.
He talks about a "standalone place" that allows him to have a lot more leeway, because Earth has not been really shown in the mainline movies. Why would he need to focus on a place we haven't seen if he was going to go by a different timeline?