Earth will not break the alien timeline

Key insights

• Alien: Earth will be the first Alien series to travel back in time to Earth for a new origin story.
• The series will explore the evolution of Xenomorphs and portray them as a threat already, which differs from previous interpretations.
• “Alien: Earth” may address unanswered questions from previous films and potentially weave together the complex story of the franchise.

A new breed hatches from the eggs Foreigner IP, and while fans are still reeling from the horrors Alien: Romulusthe franchise is about to take a completely different direction. Noah Hawley's is coming to FX Hulu in 2025 Alien: Earth is ready to go somewhere Foreigner Movies have always seemed to fear: humanity's home planet.

And not just being the first Foreigner TV series, Alien: Earth will represent a different era of franchise history, taking audiences further back than ever before with an origin story set on Earth. While this doesn't necessarily serve as an origin story for the Xenomorphs themselves, it's instead about how humanity ended up in the sad state it was in during Ridley Scott's original Foreigner.

Where does Alien: Earth take place in the Alien timeline?

When Foreigner When the series launched in 1979, everything was pretty simple, and from there the franchise continued to evolve starting in 2122. There was already a time jump between the original and James Cameron's Alienswith the rescue of Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in 2179. David Fincher is underrated Alien 3 kept it easy again as Ripley crashed onto Fiorina 161 right after Aliensbut with another huge leap, Alien: Resurrection rounded out the original series with a destroyed Earth in the year 2381.

Scott saw promise in the early days of Xenomorph evolution, so he went back to square one and delivered Prometheus, a prequel set 29 years before the doomed voyage of the Nostromo in the first film. There were plans for up to four prequels that would lead up to the events of Foreigner. Although one Alien: Covenant The sequel was abandoned, elements of which can be seen in thanks to a Ripley Easter egg Romulus. However, Alien: Earth ignores all of this and goes even further back Prometheus.

It takes place in the year 2092, Alien: Earth lands just before it Prometheus. That shouldn't matter because Prometheus took place primarily on the moon LV-223, whereas (as the name suggests) Alien: Earth takes place on earth. There might be some overlap, e.g Prometheus The film begins with Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) finding a star map in Scotland. Still, Hawley promises that his series will tell its own story. Speaking to Variety in January 2024, the director explained how he's feeling Alien: Earth back to the battered retrofuturism of the 1979s Foreigner rather than the strangely futuristic feel of Prometheus:

“There's something that doesn't really make sense to me. I prefer the retro-futurism of the first two films, and that's why I made that choice – there are no holograms. The convenience of this beautiful Apple Store technology is not available to me.”

Despite the Alien versus predator Films set on Earth are not considered canon due to recent events Foreigner And Predator Films. Although Hawley's series is expected to fit into the tangled series Foreigner timeline, Alien: Earth Breaking new ground means it's freer than the films.

Alien: Earth teases a different origin for the Xenomorphs

Scott was criticized for delving too deeply into the origin story of the Xenomorphs in both Prometheus And Alien: Covenant reveals new types of aliens and suggests that David (the android played by Michael Fassbender) was their creator. The engineers had put a mural of the Xenomorphs on the wall of their Black Goo bioweapons facility, suggesting that they were a much older race that David simply created an offshoot of.

Hawley steps into this space and has confirmed that Xenomorphs are already a threat Alien: Earth. This was then confirmed by the short hotspot of November 2024. In the Variety interview, Hawley again said he and Scott discussed logistics:

“For me and for many people, this 'perfect life form' – as described in the first film – is the product of millions of years of evolution.” […] The idea that it was in some way a bioweapon created half an hour ago is inherently less useful to me.

With the first trailer showing a shot of Earth reflected in a xenomorph's skull, it hinted that the series would follow the species arriving on the planet. Instead of just focusing on the Xenomorphs, Hawley hinted at this Alien: Earth will delve more into the antagonistic Weyland-Yutani Corporation's obsession with developing artificial intelligence. This could be related to the casting of Timothy Olyphant as a synthesizer named Kirsh.

Shows xenomorphs on Earth

The official summary for Alien: Earth confirms some of the above statements and gives some serious pointers Aliens (1986) Mood without giving too much away:

“When a mysterious spaceship crashes on Earth, a young woman and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that confronts them with the planet’s greatest threat.”

Hawley reiterates Earth's unique location, telling Deadline:

“There’s something truly spooky about seeing a xenomorph with your own eyes in the wilds of Earth.”

He said that while he couldn't confirm under what circumstances this would happen, there was an inference that the aliens would escape their corporate cages once Weyland-Yutani inevitably caught them. The fact that there is no mention of Earth being overrun by Xenomorphs in the films means that it may only be a small or temporary infestation.

The special edition of Alien: Resurrection showed Ripley and Winona Ryder's Cal arriving at the ruins of Earth in 2381. In the same film, Ron Perlman's character refers to Earth as a “shithole.” Now in federal government, David says that humanity is a “dying species” leaving the earth in search of resurrection. While it sounds like Hawley is undoing some of the Xenomorph lore hinted at in Scott's prequels and potentially revealing the status of planet Earth, the fact that he's been in contact with the franchise's overlord suggests otherwise that everything will fall into place.

Despite the non-canonical status of the AvP In films, Hawley might even revisit the idea that the Xenomorphs were spread across the galaxy as part of a predator-hunting ritual. Finally, Romulus' Fede Álvarez discussed the idea of ​​a new one Alien versus predator Film. Either way, those who are frustrated FederalIn this prequel, some of their questions about the dangling storylines could be answered. With Alien: Earth arrive by mailRomulus Boom of love for them Foreigner IP, there couldn't be a better time to take audiences back to the beginning and give even more flesh to the Xenomorph bones – especially against the familiar backdrop of Earth.