Alien: EarthmarksAlien’s first expedition into long-form episodic storytelling. The upcoming show is also noteworthy for being the firstAlienproject that takes place primarily on planet Earth, following events that happened two years before the events of 1979’s original movie.Alien: Earthfeatures an excellent castincluding Timothy Olyphant, Sydney Chandler, and Alex Lawther in the lead roles.
While it’s very exciting thattheAlienfranchiseis making the long-awaited plunge to an Earth-bound story, the decision opens up some major possibilities for plot holes and inconsistencies. Long-time fans of the franchise are understandably concerned thatNoah Hawley’s series will retroactively change the timelineand raise tricky questions about the Xenomorph’s existence and how much humanity knows about the extraterrestrial species.Alien: Earthis a hugely anticipated project, but it’s also one with immense pressure riding on its shoulders.
When Alien: Earth Is Set (And How It Ties Into The Movies)
The Show Is A Prequel To The Original Movies
Alien: Earthcomes pretty early in thetimeline of theAlienfranchise, just before Ridley Scott’s original movie and shortly after the events ofAlien: Covenant.This is a period that hasn’t been explored too thoroughly in previous movies, making it extremely fertile ground for some creative storytelling in the show. Both the original series and the prequel movies explore thewhatandwhyof Weyland-Yutani’s experiences with the Xenomorphs, butthis specific period has never seemed particularly importantto the overall story - until now.
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Alien: Earthfollows the story of a group of scientists who are forced to contain a global catastrophe when a Xenomorph somehow crash-lands on Earth, threatening the existence of the human race and altering society to the existence of other life forms in the universe. It seems like a huge moment in human history, and yet, it’s never been mentioned once in theAlienfranchise. This has raised plenty of questions among fans regarding how neatly Noah Hawley’s series will tie into the existing canon, asa story of this magnitude could very easily create plot holesthat can’t be resolved.
The Problems With Alien: Earth Bringing A Xenomorph To Earth
The Concept Seemingly Clashes With The Existing Lore
The biggest problem with bringing a Xenomorph to Earth is that it’s hard to explain why this history-defining event hasn’t been mentioned before in theAlienfranchise. It’s going to be very difficult to explainwhy the human characters inAlienare so taken aback by the XenomorphifAlien: Earthretroactively makes them the subject of a planetary invasion just a few years prior. This seems like something that Ripley and her crewmates would be aware of, soAlien: Earthwill have to explain how the show’s protagonists managed to keep the Xenomorph’s existence a secret.
BothAlienandAliensseemed to operate under the assumption that the Nostromo’s discovery of the alien species is accidental.
Anotherpotential plot hole withAlien: Earthis that Weyland-Yutani’s expedition doesn’t make much sense if the company knows about the existence of the Xenomorph. BothAlienandAliensseemed to operate under the assumption that the Nostromo’s discovery of the alien species is accidental, and Weyland-Yutani doesn’t know how to deal with the threat.This seems unlikely if the company is already aware of its existencethanks to the events ofAlien: Earth. Again, Weyland-Yutani may have nothing to do with the show’s extraterrestrial incursion, but this seems increasingly unlikely.
Alien: Romulus Ending Explained
Alien: Romulus' ending leaves the door open for another entry in the franchise. We break down the Alien sequel’s final moments & what might come next.
IfAlien: Earthreveals that Weyland-Yutani was involved with the Xenomorph appearing Earth, this retcons the central message of Ridley Scott’s original story.It would suggest that the Nostromo’s discovery of the alien wasn’t accidental, which subsequently raises the question of why the company would send such an unprepared crew into such a dangerous alien landscape. These are all questions thatAlien: Earthmust answer.
Every Time The Alien Franchise Has Been On Earth Explained
The Series Has Steered Clear Of Our Home Planet
AlthoughAlien: Earthis the first project in this franchise to actually take place primarily on Earth, there have been several instances in previous movies where Earth has been mentioned or seen briefly.The crew of the Nostromo are en route to Earth when their ship is divertedin the original movie, and the immediate sequel ends with the crew resetting their coordinates to their home planet. However, the first time Earth is actually seen in theAlienfranchise is at the end ofAlien: Resurrection, when theAurigacrash-lands on the planet after the protagonists have abandoned it.
Alien vs. Predatorhas also taken the franchise to Earth, although they’re largely considered not to be part of theAlienmovie canon.
This is the final chronological appearance of Earth in theAlienfranchise, but Ridley Scott’s prequel movies have a much closer connection to humanity’s home planet. Multiple scenes inPrometheusshow a futuristic version of Earth, with scientists later discovering coordinates that lead them to the homeworld of the Engineers. It’s unclear how strictlyAlien: Earthwill stick to the canon ofPrometheusand its direct sequel, but the show must likely acknowledge Weyland-Yutani’s existing knowledge of aliens (specifically the Engineers) from the events of these prequels.
How Alien: Earth’s Story Can Work Without Breaking Canon
There’s A Clear Path For Alien: Earth To Work
AlthoughAlien: Earthcertainly faces some major challenges by placing itself at such an established point in the franchise’s timeline, the show doesn’t have to rewrite the existing canon for it to work.The most obvious solution is for the show’s narrative to center around these scientists’ attempts to contain this mysterious species, meaning that humanity is never aware of the alien’s arrival on the planet. This would also explain why Weyland-Yutani is unaware of the Xenomorph when it boards the Nostromo inAlien.
Alternatively,Alien: Earthcould reveal that Weyland-Yutani (and humanity at large)wasaware of the Xenomorph’s existence, but they lied about their knowledge of where it came from. This would retroactively add an interesting twist to the original movies, suggesting that Weyland-Yutani somehow figured out where the Xenomorph was from and sent a team of expendables there in the hopes that the creature would board the ship and make it back to Earth. This fits neatly with David’s transmission at the end ofAlien: Covenant, which has hinted towards Weyland-Yutani’s secret knowledge since that film’s release.
