The long-awaited Alien TV show — titled Alien: Earth — is coming in 2025. After the success of the Predator prequel movie Prey back in 2022 and, Alien: Romulus last summer, and Predator: Killer of Killers in early June, Disney and 20th Century Studios are now developing more projects based on the Alien and Predator franchises, and they'll be coming to both TV and theaters.
While Alien: Romulus was set between the first and second original movies, in the far future and away from Earth, director and writer Noah Hawley's Alien TV series will bring the Xenomorph home. This idea was almost the basis for Alien 3, and the two Alien vs. Predator movies explored it, but here the goal is to honor the DNA of the Alien franchise in a different setting, while continuing some of the commentary on AI that was already started by Ridley Scott's divisive prequels.
To prepare for the Alien TV show, we'd recommend watching all the Alien movies in order. If you're still after a Xenomorph fix, then the best Alien video games and best Alien comic books aren't to be missed either.
Alien: Earth: Release date
Alien: Earth will premiere on August 12 at 8 pm ET on Hulu and FX in the US. International territories with access to Disney+ will get the premiere at 8 pm PT (August 13 for the UK and Europe). The long-awaited debut will consist of two episodes, with one more (eight total) hitting each week after that at the same time each Tuesday/Wednesday.
Series creator, showrunner, writer, and director Noah Hawley (Legion, Fargo) confirmed the end of principal photography to The Hollywood Reporter on July 17, 2024.
Hawley also stated that Alien: Earth would spend the next several months deep in post-production: "I'm in post, editing away, and obviously there's a large visual effects component that takes time. But I couldn't be happier with the show we shot… If people wanted a television series based on the world of Alien, I think I'm gonna give them something special."
How to watch Alien: Earth online
The original announcement from Disney confirmed that the Alien TV series was being developed as an FX original, also coming to Hulu in the United States. Outside of the US, Disney+ will be the home of Alien: Earth.
What is the plot of the Alien: Earth?
Alongside the obvious beasties, Alien: Earth will explore the Alien universe's synths in depth, tackling the matter of AI and the increasingly blurred lines between artificial and human life.
Of course, being set in the not-so-far future and on Earth, it could be tricky to make the Xenomorph element work without blowing up the canon continuity (the AvP flicks are traditionally ignored). Still, Hawley has stated that he wants to "open up" the usual Alien premise: "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."
The acclaimed writer-director is also bringing the dark future of the movies closer to our world, exploring the difficult relationship between the working class and corporations looking to maximize profits and control over the population, no matter what. This has been a constant in the mainline Alien movies, but it wasn't always the main point. It's reasonable to expect a deeper exploration of these themes thanks to all the extra runtime the TV format allows. As of yet, Hawley's show appears to have no connections, that we know of, to the just-released Alien: Romulus.
As it stands, the expectation is for Alien: Earth to run for longer than just one season, as FX boss John Landgraf said they're "pretty bullish" on Hawley's show: "Alien: Earth is a returning television series, we want him to focus on at least writing two seasons of it before returning to a possible sixth season of Fargo."
WARNING — Mild spoilers in the paragraph ahead
The short official synopsis reads as follows: "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."
The story is set in the year 2120, only two years before the original Alien and 16 after the events of Alien: Covenant. At this time, Earth is governed by five corporations: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic, and Threshold. Cyborgs and synths are common, but it's at this point that Prodigy comes up with hybrids, "humanoid robots infused with human consciousness." Needless to say, the alien visitors aren't the only threat to humanity's survival.
Thanks to the recent marketing materials we've learnt more about one of the five alien creatures that were collected by the USCSS Maginot in deep space. While the classic Xenomorph will remain at the center of the show, Alien: Earth is expanding the horror associated with the series' title to at least four other extraterrestrial organisms.
In the main trailer, we get two shots of the T. Ocellus: one of a computer screen which details the study being conducted and another of the 'eyeball jellyfish' creature itself as it wraps itself around a bloody body part. The screen reveals that the T. Ocellus climbs into other creatures' eye sockets and takes over their brains – this introduces an entirely new element of body horror to the already distressing Alien universe.
"On some level, the most critical feeling that you get from seeing Alien for the first time is the one that's impossible to recreate, which is discovery of the life cycle of this creature. Every time you think that you know what this monster is, it changes into something worse. You can't ever get back with those creatures. But if I bring in new creatures, you don't know how they reproduce, what they eat, how they're parasites," Hawley explained when talking to SFX Magazine.
Alien: Earth trailers
The bulk of the marketing campaign has consisted of small teasers showing us viral-like clips and short snippets from the show. We also got a short teaser trailer on January 27, 2025, which shows us the Xenomorph's arrival on our fair blue planet.
The whole thing is shown from the point of view of the alien creature, which leads to a jarring "stuck in a tumble-dryer" viewpoint, but it's a cool little teaser nonetheless. See it here:
After a number of shorts revealed at SXSW 2025, April brought us three playful teasers that set the mood ahead of our visit to Earth in 2120. The first one, released on April 22, celebrates Earth Day before things take a dark turn:
On Alien Day, April 26, FX/Hulu kept teasing us and we got no signs of a full trailer. Instead, two different short teasers ('Crate' and 'Gestation Complete') made us feel uneasy again. You can watch them below:
The full trailer for Alien: Earth finally arrived on June 5. It revealed the bulk of the main premise, much of the main group of characters, Prodigy's CEO, and the alien creatures causing carnage on our planet. It's not spoiler-heavy (at least in our humble opinion), so feel free to watch it ahead of the premiere:
A second full trailer titled Greener World expanded on the setting, themes, and action without going too spoiler-ish. It arrived on July 17, and you can check it out here:
Last but not least, a barrage of quick but meaty spots has been gracing our screens before the show's August debut. They might be revealing a bit too much, so if you're sensitive to spoilers feel free to skip these videos.
Alien: Earth Cast
After a gradual reveal of the roster of actors, we now have a pretty complete list of the main talent we'll be seeing in front of the cameras in Alien: Earth (plus their character names).
- Sydney Chandler (Don't Worry Darling) as Wendy
- Alex Lawther (Star Wars: Andor) as Hermit
- Essie Davis (The Babadook) as Dame Sylvia
- Timothy Olyphant (The Mandalorian) as Kirsh
- Samuel Blenkin (Black Mirror) as Boy Kavalier
- Kit Young (Shadow and Bone) as Tootles
- Adarsh Gourav (Guns & Gulaabs) as Slightly
- Erana James (The Wilds) as Curly
- David Rysdahl (No Exit) as Arthur Sylvia
- Babou Ceesay (Free Fire) as Morrow
- Adrian Edmondson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) as Atom Eins
- Lily Newmark (3 Body Problem) as Nibs
- Jonathan Ajayi (Vigil) as Smee
- Diêm Camille (The Wheel of Time) as Siberian
- Moe Bar-El (Dune: Part Two) as Rashidi
- Sandra Yi Sencindiver (Foundation) as Yutani
Alien: Earth directors, writers, & crew
Noah Hawley, of Fargo and Legion fame, serves as creator, showrunner, director, and writer on the series. He's helmed episodes 1 and 5, with Dana Gonzales (The Handmaid's Tale) and Ugla Hauksdóttir (Hanna) handling the rest of the season. He's also executive producing alongside original Alien director Ridley Scott (who's overseen Fede Álvarez's Alien: Romulus too). Scott Free Productions, FX, and 20th Television are the production companies involved.
Hawley worked on the scripts for all eight episodes of season 1. The writers' room also included Bob DeLaurentis (The Umbrella Academy), Bobak Esfarjani (WandaVision), Lisa Long (The Act), Maria Melnik (American Gods), and Migizi Pensoneau (Time Bandits).
Hawley is reuniting with Dana and Bella Gonzales for the cinematography after working together on Fargo as well as Legion. Colin Watkinson (The Handmaid's Tale) also served as cinematographer on some episodes. As for the (surely striking and complex) production design, it's led by Andy Nicholson (Gravity, Captain Marvel). Jeff Ruso (Fargo, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) is the music composer.
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