Summary

• FX's Alien TV series aims to fix franchise flaws by setting a new story on Earth, challenging previous prequels and AvP movies.
• Showrunner Noah Hawley intends to address criticisms of Ridley Scott's prequel vision and establish a fresh origin story for the Alien franchise.
• FX's Alien promises to provide a new chapter while drawing a line under past problems, offering a reboot for the iconic sci-fi horror series.

Along with Alien: Romulus, FX's the Alien TV show is set to arrive in the first half of 2025 – although an exact release date is yet to be confirmed. However, while many details around the project remain unclear, what is known suggests that FX's Alien can reset the unwieldy series and establish a new chronology that can help secure its future.

It has already been confirmed FX's Alien will be a prequel to Ridley Scott's original Alien film. Back in 2022, FX chief John Landgraf revealed that "It’s the first story in the Alien franchise that takes place on Earth. It takes place on our planet, near the end of this century we’re currently in — 70-odd years from now" (via The Hollywood Reporter). Given the period that recent previous Alien franchise installments have focused on, such an approach promises to rewrite aspects of franchise lore. Beyond this, however, FX's Alien's setting will allow it to take a more comprehensive approach to resetting the series.

Alien TV Show Can Fix AVP And Ridley Scott's Prequels

All Four Movies Have Major Problems

It's obvious, given where the franchise has been since 2012, that FX's Alien promises to pose challenging questions for Ridley Scott's cinematic Alien prequels. Both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant provided a radical and controversial explanation for the alien's origins that, aside from a few brief moments at the start of Prometheus, was set away from Earth. Changing the setting for this point in the Alien timeline suggests FX's Alien will alter and perhaps even directly contradict what happened in Prometheus and Covenant.

Beyond this however, there are other implications for FX's Alien's setting. Despite Landgraf's suggestion that the show will be "the first story...that takes place on Earth", this is of course not true, thanks to the much-maligned (but nonetheless extant) Alien vs. Predator movies. Both the 2004 original and its sequel feature a conflict between the Yautja and xenomorphs on Earth itself, creating several potential narrative difficulties for future events in the Alien series.

...the fact that the show is set on Earth suggests that it will also rewrite the story established earlier in the AvP movies, potentially retconning no fewer than four previous Alien prequel stories...

Showrunner Noah Hawley has already highlighted personal concerns with Ridley Scott's prequels. In an extensive interview with KCRW's The Business podcast, he cited issues with the idea that the xenomorph was an artificially created "bioweapon", as well as concerns with the polished futuristic aesthetic of Prometheus and Covenant (via Variety). It makes sense, therefore, that FX's Alien will address these particular elements. However, the fact that the show is set on Earth suggests that it will also rewrite the story established earlier in the AvP movies, potentially retconning no fewer than four previous Alien prequel stories in the process.

Alien Desperately Needs To Fix Its Prequel Story

It's Hurting The Whole Franchise

Part of the problem with Alien's multiple origin stories is that it's almost impossible to articulate a coherent vision for how the franchise really starts. Prometheus and Covenant's entire premise (that David created the xenomorphs as a result of his experiments with the Engineers' black goo) completely writes the Alien vs. Predator saga out of existence, implying that the aliens only came into being a few decades before Alien. According to many critics, this explanation completely undermined the power of the original film – replacing an ancient primordial force with something far more prosaic.

...by reducing them to combatants in an intergalactic MMA tournament, the creatures lost all of their malice – as well as making it seem incredibly unlikely that humanity would remain unaware of their existence.

By contrast, Alien vs. Predator at least managed to maintain the mystery around where the aliens came from and how they evolved. However, by reducing them to combatants in an intergalactic MMA tournament, the creatures lost all of their malice – as well as making it seem incredibly unlikely that humanity would remain unaware of their existence. As a result, neither current explanation for how the Alien saga's story begins is particularly satisfying. This makes a new approach of the sort proposed by Hawley a welcome addition to a franchise that has become increasingly bogged down by its own complex and contradictory lore.

FX's Alien Can Give The Franchise A Completely New Origin

It Can Be A Fresh Start After Years Of Uncertainty

Because of their wildly different storylines, FX's Alien can't reconcile both Ridley Scott's prequel vision and the version presented in Alien vs. Predator. Therefore, the best way for the show to proceed is to create an entirely new origin story, removed from the complications of the past. Following Alien vs. Predator raises too many questions about connections to another franchise, while sticking with Prometheus and Covenant wouldn't resolve any of Hawley's personal issues with those stories. As such a complete reset is the best way forward.

Of course, starting afresh doesn't mean ignoring what's come before. One way for FX's Alien to stay true to the original story is answering the question of how Weyland-Yutani might have known about the existence of LV-426 before Alien, or whether the Nostromo's encounter really was the first time humanity crossed paths with the xenomorph. Either way, there are plenty of ways to introduce a new chapter in the Alien story while drawing a line under the problems of the past.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety