An Alien TV show is in the works, and this new direction will be far more important for the franchise's future than another film would be. The long-running series kicked off in 1979 with the release of Ridley Scott's Alien and has continued to the present day with a further seven movies and additional spinoffs in the mediums of comics, novels, and video games. However, when it comes to onscreen adventures, the story of mankind's struggle against the bloodthirsty Xenomorphs has been limited strictly to the big screen.
This is set to change in the near future, as Disney has announced that an Alien television series is currently in development. The show will be the franchise's first foray into the world of small-screen entertainment and will take place on Earth in the far-distant future. The show is set to begin production in the spring of 2022, and will likely begin airing on FX by 2023.
While moving from theaters to television is a big step for the R-rated horror franchise, it's a move that comes with a lot of benefits, especially considering the current state of the property. While the two most recent films, 2012's Prometheus and 2017's Alien: Covenant, have made their money back at the box office, neither provided the overall success and popularity boost that 20th Century Fox hoped they'd give the franchise. With the long-rumored Alien 5 still dead in the water and Ridley Scott's Covenant sequel seemingly stuck in development hell, continuing the Alien mythology on the small screen might be just the shot in the arm the series needs to survive and evolve.
The idea of producing a big-budget sci-fi television show with a large scope and ambitious concepts is far more feasible today than it was even a decade ago. Today, many TV shows boast larger budgets than some feature films and still allow for cinematic quality to be preserved. In this regard, the Alien franchise won't suffer a drop in quality from moving to TV. In fact, such a move will likely allow the franchise to regain something that it has arguably been lost over the course of the most recent installments: focus. While Prometheus seemed confident in the direction it wanted to go, Covenant abandoned much of this setup in favor of returning to familiar ground. The upcoming Alien show could help to refocus the narrative and give audiences a reason to get invested in the universe of the story again.
Migrating the world of Alien to television will also allow the showrunners to experiment with new concepts and expand the world of the franchise. With the series set to take place on a future Earth, fresh possibilities for exploring the impact of the Xenomorphs on humanity's home planet will open up. The Alien films have largely neglected Earth in favor of exotic worlds and claustrophobic spaceships, but broadening the mythology to Earth and following new characters over the course of multiple episodes will give the franchise a new way to connect with audiences. Combined with a large budget and a tight vision, the show could pave the way for how the Alien franchise can grow and prosper far into the future.