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Summary
- The FX Alien TV show, set to be released in 2025, marks the franchise's first foray into television and offers a new direction for the Xenomorphs.
- Despite delays due to the pandemic and the SAG-AFTRA strike, production on the show is progressing slowly but smoothly, according to showrunner Noah Hawley.
- The Alien TV show will explore the Earth's future, focusing on the competition faced by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation in their pursuit of immortality, providing a fresh perspective on the franchise's established themes.
The FX Alien TV show news has been slow since its announcement, but the move to the small screen remains one of the most interesting new directions for the Xenomorphs. The long-running horror/sci-fi franchise Alien has thus far been exclusive to the big screen, with the Xenomorphs having starred in eight motion pictures to date. Beginning in 1979 with Ridley Scott's Alien and continuing through to Scott's prequel Alien: Covenant in 2017, the series has a long and rich history — and its next big leap will be to the small screen with Noah Hawley's Alien TV show on FX.
Shortly after acquiring 20th Century Fox in 2019, Disney announced plans to create a new installment in the Alien movie franchise. While a new movie did eventually take shape, the studio also made it known that it intended to bring the Alien mythology to TV for the first time. The announcement came in 2020, along with news that Fargo's Noah Hawley will act as showrunner. While the series has yet to release a trailer there are plenty of interesting teases and details that offer hints as to what audiences can expect from the FX Alien TV show.
Alien TV Show: Latest News
Director Noah Hawley Aims To Resume Filming In 2024
The latest Alien TV show news arrived on November 8, 2023, when creator Noah Hawley revealed a release window. The Alien TV show is aiming for a 2025 release date, according to Hawley, who's the showrunner, writer, and director of the upcoming small-screen prequel. Speaking with The Wrap, he revealed that once the then-still ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike was resolved (which is was the next day), he was aiming to resume filming in February 2024. Here are his comments in full:
We’re all just waiting for the strike, and it will end. The plan right now is to go back in January and be shooting in February, and looks like shoot until July or so, which puts the air date somewhere in the in the first half of '25. I was able to complete filming most of the first hour. That said, I wasn’t able to film anything with my star. So I still have the bulk of the show to film, and we have seven more hours to shoot. I certainly would have loved to get the show in front of people as quickly as possible.
Also announced in November 2023, the first bit of major casting news was finally revealed as Timothy Olyphant is joining the ensemble of the Alien TV show. The Justified star is set to play an android synthetic character that could help explain a bit more of their origins and connection to Michael Fassbender's David.
Alien TV Show: Production Status
The FX Alien TV Series Is Still In Development
No Alien TV show release date has been announced yet, though Noah Hawley's comments revealed he and FX are aiming for a 2025 window. Multiple pandemic-fueled delays, as well as the need to fit Fargo season 5 into Hawley's schedule, have meant a shifting shooting window, but Hawley has confirmed that work on his Alien series is "going great," albeit slowly.
FX Alien TV Show Cast
Who Is Starring In The Alien TV Series?
The Alien TV show cast its first actor with Sydney Chandler joining the series in May 2023. Chandler is a relative newcomer whose projects include the FX limited series Pistols and Don't Worry Darling. Chandler's casting continues the Alien franchise trend of casting female leads, though little is known about her character. Timothy Olyphant is also slated to appear in the show as a synth who potentially has a connection to Michael Fassbender's David. More details are expected soon on both characters.
Alien TV Show Story Details
What Is FX's Alien TV Series About?
Relatively little is currently known about the Alien TV show story, with one confirmed detail being that it will be set on Earth in the distant future. Setting the story on future Earth appears to be Hawley's way of refocusing what the franchise has been about thus far. Throughout all the Alien movies the Weyland-Yutani Corporation has been a consistent antagonist almost as bad as Xenomorphs. Relentlessly pursuing immortality primarily through the creation of artificial intelligence (and at the expense of real human life), the company totally dominates deep space in the Alien franchise.
Hawley's Earth-set Alien show will reportedly explore some of Weyland-Yutani's competitors, suggesting that there are other, probably equally nefarious, means and methods being tested to unlock the technological secret to eternal life. Coupled with Hawley's confirmation that his Alien series on FX will feature executives engaging with Xenomorphs more than workers, the show is shaping up to be an interesting and refreshing expansion of what the films have covered so far.