"Alien: Earth" New Trailer: Sydney Chandler and Timothy Olyphant Face a New Breed of Terror in Noah Hawley’s FX Sci-Fi Series
The Xenomorphs arrive on Earth in this chilling reimagining set before the 1979 classic, where identity, survival, and evolution collide in a high-tech metropolis under siege.
If you thought the Alien franchise was on its last leg, likely headed closer to retirement... well, maybe the saga ain’t done just yet. Perhaps it takes the creative mind of someone like Emmy-winner Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion) to come up with a new story angle—one that doesn’t just recycle old tropes but reimagines the terror in a new environment. For instance (and we don’t know why this hasn’t been done before), take those nasty Xenomorph creatures out of the cold vacuum of space and bring them a little closer to home... humanity’s home... like Earth.
In the upcoming FX series Alien: Earth, the iconic sci-fi horror franchise crash-lands on our planet for the first time, trading in the cold, isolating void of space for a futuristic setting with a little more gravity—both literally and thematically. The Noah Hawley-created show also marks the franchise’s television debut, bringing the terror of the Xenomorphs to the small screen in a serialized format that promises to explore new depths of human fragility.
Taking place two years before the events of the original 1979 film, the year is 2120. In the heart of a high-tech futuristic metropolis known as Prodigy City, chaos soon erupts when a deep-space vessel crash-lands in the middle of downtown. Its cargo? A collection of five alien specimens—one of which has acid for blood and a serious attitude problem.
Rising actress Sydney Chandler (yes, the daughter of Friday Night Lights actor Kyle Chandler, and known for playing a young Chrissie Hynde in Danny Boyle’s FX miniseries Pistol) stars as Wendy, the first human consciousness ever transferred into a synthetic body.
Is she an android? Not exactly. Is she human? Again… not exactly. But it’s the question at the center of her existence—one she’s struggling to answer. As she narrates in this new trailer: “If I’m not human, what am I?”
It’s an interesting question to begin with, as it might hint that the show will be exploring the themes of autonomy—and whether humans are the only ones inherently granted free will, or if human consciousness, transferred or otherwise, deserves those same rights and freedoms.
In a future shaped in some ways by synthetic life, who gets to decide what defines a human becomes a philosophical debate in a world where the lines between man, machine, and now monster are dangerously blurred.
Chandler’s Wendy still carries the mentality of a young teen, as her consciousness was transferred when she was a dying girl. Since then, she’s been trained to operate as a tactical soldier, working under the guidance of Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), a corporate-sponsored mercenary whose skills are called in when companies need problems handled.
So, when the mysterious space vessel crash-lands, Wendy volunteers herself and Kirsh to lead a recovery team to investigate the wrecked ship. But with a Xenomorph now on the loose and the city hanging in the balance, the mission quickly devolves into a high-stakes survival horror—where no amount of training, firepower, or synthetic upgrades can prepare them for what they’re about to face.
Nor the viewers are prepared for what they’re about to witness... is that a baby Xenomorph at the end of this trailer?! What the hell?!
With Alex Lawther, Babou Ceesay, Samuel Blenkin, Essie Davis, and more rounding out the cast, and Ridley Scott back as executive producer, Alien: Earth promises to blend the franchise’s classic terror with a grounded, slow-burn suspense that could make this one of the freshest entries in years.
In space, no one can hear you scream. On Earth? Everyone can. So, expect plenty of screaming... perhaps some coming from your own living room when Alien: Earth debuts Tuesday, August 12th on FX on Hulu.
Official Synopsis:
Fear takes new forms.
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 in FX’s Alien: Earth.
In the year 2120, the Earth is governed by five corporations: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic and Threshold. In this Corporate Era, cyborgs (humans with both biological and artificial parts) and synthetics (humanoid robots with artificial intelligence) exist alongside humans. But the game is changed when the wunderkind Founder and CEO of Prodigy Corporation unlocks a new technological advancement: hybrids (humanoid robots infused with human consciousness). The first hybrid prototype named “Wendy” marks a new dawn in the race for immortality. After Weyland-Yutani’s spaceship collides into Prodigy City, “Wendy” and the other hybrids encounter mysterious life forms more terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined.
