The Alien franchise is set to continue on the small screen with an “FX on Hulu” TV series from Fargo creator Noah Hawley, a show that began filming last year, then had to halt production after a month due to the actors strike. Filming resumed earlier this year, and continues to this day, although Hawley has already finished the episodes he directed himself. He’s doing his best to keep the details under wraps – but during a new interview on the Deadline podcast Crew Call, he revealed that Hulu is hoping to release the first two seasons of the show close together.
Hawley said, “They’re saying maybe don’t do two things at once on this show… their hope is to put a season two as close to season one as possible.” As for how involved executive producer Ridley Scott is with the series – it turns out, he’s not very involved at all. Hawley said that he and Scott had a conversation when the show was still in its conceptual stage, but Scott has taken a hands off approach since then. Hawley told Deadline, “In the four years it’s taken me to launch this show, he’s made how many movies?” In other words, Scott has been too busy to pay much attention to the Alien TV series.
Hawley added, “What I said to Ridley is ‘I’m adapting your movie.’ I had to make a decision — retro futurism or Prometheus? And I chose retro-futurism. When I close my eyes and you say Alien to me, I see that green Ascii text. You know, I hear that sound. I see that keyboard with the weird Egyptian runes on it. I see those hallways.“
One of the first things we heard about the Alien TV series – and one of the most surprising things about it – is that it will actually be set on Earth, a couple decades before the events of the first movie. FX chairman John Landgraf has said the show will take place “right near the end of this century.” According to Deadline, the setting puts it “a few years before Prometheus,” which Hawley has previously said he has chosen not to acknowledge. Hawley decided to set the show on Earth because “The alien stories are always trapped… Trapped in a prison, trapped in a space ship. 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.“
Hawley’s Alien TV series stars Sydney Chandler (Pistol) as the meta-human Wendy, who has the body of an adult, but the brain and consciousness of a child; Essie Davis (The Babadook) as Dame Silvia, Alex Lawther (The End of the F*cking World) as a soldier named CJ, Samuel Blenkin (Black Mirror) as a CEO named Boy Kavalier, Adarsh Gourav (The White Tiger) as a character named Slightly, Kit Young (Shadow and Bone) as a character called Tootles, Sandra Yi Sencindiver (Foundation) as a senior member of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, and Timothy Olyphant (Justified), who is said to be playing Kirsh, a synth who acts as a mentor and trainer for Wendy.
Also in the cast are Babou Ceesay (Guerrilla), Jonathan Ajayi (Wonder Woman 1984), Erana James (The Wilds), Lily Newmark (Sex Education), Diêm Camille (Washington Black), Adrian Edmondson (The Young Ones), Moe Bar-El (The Peripheral), and David Rysdahl, who worked with Hawley on Fargo season 5.
The Alien TV series is believed to have an eight episode first season. Filming is expected to wrap in July, but there will be a lot of visual effects work to do in post-production, so the show is aiming for a 2025 premiere.
Are you looking forward to the Alien TV series, and are you glad to hear that Hulu is planning for at least two seasons? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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