Tag: Alien

'Alien: Earth' Streaming Next Summer, Series Spinoff Is Set Two Years Before Original 'Alien'
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‘Alien: Earth’ Streaming Next Summer, Series Spinoff Is Set Two Years Before Original ‘Alien’

Most recently, we finally got some new footage from Noah Hawley‘s (“Fargo,” “Legion”) “Alien” series spinoff “Alien: Earth” from a Disney+ promotional video from earlier in the month, and a “new teaser” from this week has confirmed a summer 2025 debut on Hulu and Disney+. Sadly, this teaser (See below) doesn’t exactly include any new footage, just the previous look at a xenomorph we got over the summer.

If you weren’t already aware, the show’s cast includes Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Timothy Olyphant, Essie Davis, Samuel Blenkin, Babou Ceesay, David Rysdahl, Adrian Edmondson, Adarsh Gourav, Jonathan Ajayi, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Diem Camille, and Moe Bar-El.

Olyphant is reportedly playing a new android in the show, and we’re still trying to figure out if the show is indeed going to be regarded as hard canon like “Alien: Romulus” or simply a standalone project that won’t impact past or future stories.

Illuminating the Empty Spaces of 'Alien' | by Nat Brehmer | Medium

From a timeline perspective, “Alien: Earth” takes place in 2120, which directly places it two years before the events of the original “Alien” by Ridley Scott and set much after his more recent prequels, “Prometheus” (27 years) and “Alien: Covenant” (16 years).

“Alien: Romulus” took place between “Alien” and “Aliens,” adding brand new characters and establishing that Weyland-Yutanti tinkered with the Big Chap and had a cloning program before Carter Burke doomed the colonists of Hadley’s Hope or the cloning plot of “Alien: Resurrection.” Until we get official confirmation from Hawley, there is wiggle room for them to retroactively add these new show events to the main franchise timeline in the same way without retconning anything in a major way (Neill Blomkamp’s never-made “Alien 5” would have retconned the films after “Aliens” and explored the company’s experiments with the xenomorphs including bio-suits).

In theory, xenomorphs could have overrun a city or island on Earth only to be nuked into dust and covered up by the company to hide active weapons programs using alien bio-technology. This would explain this hint of previous knowledge of the xenomorphs from Ash and Carter Burke, an established database on them from the occurences of “Alien: Earth” or previous attempts to experiment even before “Romulus.”

Check out the show’s official logline from FX/Disney:

“When a mysterious space vessel crash-lands on Earth, a young woman (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 highly anticipated TV series ‘Alien: Earth’ from creator Noah Hawley.“

Elsewhere in the franchise, writer/director Fede Alvarez is said to be developing a follow-up sequel to “Alien: Romulus” (Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson are confirmed to reprise their roles) potentially with Ridley Scott (had once been developing a third David-centric prequel called “Alien: Awakening“) returning as producer via Scott Free, and the next live-action “Predator” film “Predator: Badlands” is set to hit the big screen next November. There is some hope that with the two film franchises now being set in the distant future and off-world, 20th Century Studios could eventually attempt an organic and authentic new adaptation of “Alien vs Predator.” By ignoring the previous two films and giving fans something closer to what the original comic books and video games were doing with the crossover.

Time will tell if The Colonial Marines (who haven’t officially appeared since James Cameron’s “Aliens”) will be the third splinter group to their own series or spinoff before an off-world clash between the two deadly alien species.

While “Prey” was a Hulu-exclusive film, “Alien: Romulus” was gifted a traditional theatrical release and earned an impressive $350.8 million for the studio at the worldwide box office. Making it the second highest-grossing installment. “Romulus” has proved there is still gas left in the tank despite mixed reactions to Ridley’s two prequels. We’re curious to see how “Alien: Earth” impacts things next summer and what new ideas Halwey has cooked up beyond expanding on the company trying to weaponize the xenomorph (an over-arching theme of the franchise and briefly touched upon in “Alien: Romulus” and “Alien: Resurrection” via cloning technology.

SOURCE: FX

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Alien: Romulus’ Star Cailee Spaeny Alludes To New Film Being About The Hadley’s Hope Xenomorph Outbreak On LV-426

In August of next year, we’re expected to get our first new “Alien” film since 2017’s “Alien: Covenant” that focused on the David and Enigeeners. We now have a really solid idea of when in the franchise’s timeline the new film takes place along with a potentially exact location as well. A new quote from the film’s star Cailee Spaeny to Variety has revealed that the new “Alien” film is set between Ridley Scott’s “Alien” and James Cameron’s “Aliens.”

“It’s supposed to slot in between the first movie and the second movie,” Spaeny told Variety at the Gotham Awards. “They brought the same team from ‘Aliens,’ the James Cameron film. The same people who built those xenomorphs actually came on and built ours. So getting to see the original design with the original people who have been working on these films for 45-plus years and has been so much of their life has been really incredible.”

13 ALIENS Hadley's Hope Referance ideas | alien, xenomorph, aliens movie

This would seemingly confirm the film about young off-world colonists is indeed a film about the outbreak at the Weyland-Yutani colony, Hadley’s Hope, on LV-426 where a “shake and bake colony” gets overrun by an army of xenomorphs and their Queen. From the sounds of things, we don’t really need much in the way of plot details because we know that Newt ends up the sole survivor of events leading somewhat directly into “Aliens.” The team of Colonial Marines arrives to find all of the colonists, minus Newt, have either been facehugged or killed.

The fate of Hadley’s Hope (the main location of “Aliens”) was simply alluded to in the original theatrical cut of the 1986 film, but later “Special Editions” would add 30-40 minutes of deleted scenes that featured Ripley being told her daughter Amanda (the protagonist of “Alien: Isolation”) has died after being lost in space for decades and how the outbreak on LV-426 had Newt’s father as the first victim of the face huggers.

Fede Alvarez (“Evil Dead”), the director, had recently talked up that his director’s cut of “Romulus” had been given the seal of approval by the extremely picky Ridley Scott, who is now one of the main stewards and producers of the franchise via Scott Free.

“Alien: Romulus” is set by 20th Century Studios for a release date of August 16, 2024.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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Noah Hawley’s Earthbound ‘Alien’ Series Will See ‘Fargo’ Director Dana Gonzales Tackle Episodes

The “Alien” franchise is undergoing a bit of a stress test since the reigns have moved over to Disney post-merger and with a new feature film heading to theaters next summer it does certainly feel like the brass running 20th Century Studios actually is trying its best to reinvest into the sci-fi horror genre. We’re not only getting a new movie but FX/Hulu and Scott Free are behind an Earthbound prequel series as well that had been filming in Thailand earlier in the year. With the strikes resolved, it was recently revealed to The Wrap by the show’s creator/director Noah Hawley (“Legion,” “Fargo”) that the show is aiming for release sometime in 2025 with the production expected to ramp back up in February.

The Ronin can share a small update on the untitled “Alien” series. Executive producer Dana Gonzales had been previously linked as one of the show’s cinematographers (latest credit being “The Toxic Avenger”) and will direct an unknown amount of episodes alongside Hawley. His directing credits include “Legion,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Changeling,” and two upcoming episodes from Season 5 of “Fargo.”

We’re still waiting for more concrete plot details about the sci-fi horror series but it is expected to take place before the events of the original 1979 film and out-of-character for the franchise will mostly be set on Earth with the potential of Weyland Industries/Weyland-Yutani (the secondary villain of the franchise) being at the core of it. The cast of the “Alien” series includes Sydney Chandler (“Don’t Worry Darling”), Alex Lawther (“Andor,” “Black Mirror”), Samuel Blenkin (“Black Mirror,” “The Sandman”), Essie Davis, and Adarsh Gourav.

This is how Hawley described the show to Esquire back in 2022:

“It’s set on Earth of the future. At this moment, I describe that as Edison versus Westinghouse versus Tesla. Someone’s going to monopolize electricity. We just don’t know which one it is … In the movies, we have this Weyland-Yutani Corporation, which is clearly also developing artificial intelligence but what if there are other companies trying to look at immortality in a different way, with cyborg enhancements or transhuman downloads? Which of those technologies is going to win?”

On the film front, director Fede Álvarez‘s “Alien: Romulus” has a tentative release date of August 16, 2024, and according to the filmmaker, his director’s cut of the pic got the seal of approval from producer Ridley Scott. There is an expectation that the movie will focus on an off-world colony inhabited by a group of young human colonists. Given that a director’s cut is already being put together we shouldn’t be that shocked if some teaser images or footage is released by 20th Century between now and CinemaCon 2024.

When exactly the new “Alien” series will drop in 2025 remains to be seen as we’ll likely get a release window closer to when the show actually completes filming.

Posted on in Film News, News

Fede Alvarez Shares Producer Ridley Scott’s Reaction To His Director’s Cut Of ‘Alien: Romulus’: “It’s Fucking Great”

If you weren’t already aware, 20th Century Studios and Disney are looking to reenergize the “Alien” franchise with not only a brand new mystery film called “Alien: Romulus” from director Fede Alvarez (“Evil Dead”) but also Noah Hawley (“Fargo”) behind an Earthbound streaming series at FX/Hulu as well that takes place before the events of the original film. It looks like things are chugging along with Fede’s film as he recently completed a director’s cut or potentially an assembly cut of the film.

Guillermo del Toro spoke with the filmmaker at The Directors Guild of America’s Latino Summit 2023 where he revealed the pressure-cooker moment when franchise producer Ridley Scott sat in a room alone to watch the director’s cut before anyone else and shared his promising impressions with Alvarez.

“I finished the director’s cut a week ago and go through the incredibly intense process of sending it Ridley Scott, who is my producer. He’s the producer of the movie. I wanted him to see it before anybody and everybody gave me the heads up that ‘Ridley’s really tough and particularly if you have something to do with his movie.’ He was really tough on ‘Blade Runner,’ which I saw as a masterpiece…He walks into the room and he did say ‘Fede what I can say? It’s fucking great.’ My family knows it was the best moments of my life to have a master like him, which I admire so much, even to watch a movie I made. The best compliment he gave was ‘The dialogue is great, you’re the writer?'”

The young cast assembled for the sci-fi horror pic includes Caliee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, Archie Renaux, David Jonsson, Aileen Wu, and Spike Fearn. While the film is in the post-production stage we still haven’t got our hands on an official plot synopsis for the new “Alien” film other than previous hints that it could involve an off-world colony facility

Alvarez isn’t understating Scott’s hyper-critical persona. Director Neill Blomkamp’s takeaway from his experience developing “Alien 5” only for it to go away was that Scott had likely soured on him after watching “Chappie” and potentially had the movie killed. Although, it sounds like Alvarez’s experience was very much different with his new “Alien” installment.

Interestingly enough, ILM is working on the film’s visual effects alongside Weta Workshop, which is said to be working on weapons and vehicles. The Gillis team returning to do creature effects as well.

Thankfully for fans, the sequel will be heading to theaters on August 16, 2024, after it had been previously set to become another Hulu exclusive like their well-done “Predator” prequel, “Prey.” Given that they have a director’s cut this early less than a year away from release there is some hope the studio could start releasing first-look images and even a teaser trailer in the near future.

You can watch the full conversation between del Toro and Alvarez right here.

SOURCE: DGA LATINO SUMMIT 2023

Posted on in Film News, News

Christopher Nolan Praises David Fincher’s Critically-Panned Debut ‘Alien 3’ As “Great” & “Remarkable”

I think we’re all extremely fascinated by filmmaker Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”) and knowing what films he enjoys is very much going to be something hardcore fans are going to over-analyze given how much he openly homages cinematic benchmarks. In the past, Nolan has spoken out about his love for the “Fast & Furious” franchise, specifically “Tokyo Drift.” More recently he said both Stanley Kurbick’s sci-fi masterpiece “2001: A Space Odyssey” and Adam McKay’s sports comedy “Tallagada Nights” were movies he’d always stop to watch if he saw them playing on television.

Another perplexing but still interesting selection was briefly praised by Nolan during his interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast (See below). The subject of trailers came up along with Ridley Scott’s original 1979 “Alien” being referenced and host Josh Horowitz was quick to mention how the original teaser for David Fincher‘s “Alien 3” got ahead of what they were actually doing it teased an Earthbound setting that never happened.

Nolan would go on to say the following about the third installment, “And you know, Fincher has famously talked about how unhappy he was with it and how it changed. I think it’s a great movie but I think his work on that is remarkable.”

David Fincher and Sigourney Weaver on the set of “Alien 3” – 20th Century Studios/Disney

Of course, it wasn’t just Fincher unhappy with the producers/20th Century Fox’s everchanging ideas before, during, and in the final version. “Alien 3” was both a critical and financial failure, with the brass throwing the first-time feature director under the bus instead of self-reflection for all their micromanaging and narrative mistakes. You could forgive Fincher for trying to speak on the subject for the better half of 30 years.

Given the commercial success of the first two films, it was seen as a franchise low-point until “Alien Resurrection” ultimately became the final nail in the coffin despite three separate attempts to get an “Alien 5” going with Sigourney Weaver. Since 1992, a lot of sci-fi fans have warmed up to the film for its fantastic production design and painstaking attempt to honor that universe overseen by the evil corporation Weyland-Yuanti. Although, the movie does have some glaring issues like the mixed performances of the supporting cast and extremely wonky visual effects of the Xenomorph.

We already know Nolan’s affinity for both the James Bond movies and “Star Wars,” but it’s certainly interesting to hear him talk about the “Alien” franchise. While under Disney’s new ownership, there is an Earthbouth streaming series at FX/Hulu currently filming in Thailand and theatrical film on the horizon. I don’t think many fans would be terribly upset if Nolan eventually tried to tell a story within that universe, at some point, but hasn’t suggested there is any pressing desire to do so.

SOURCE: HAPPY SAD CONFUSED PODCAST

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Earthbound ‘Alien’ Series Filming Moving Ahead In Thailand Despite Strike, Adds ‘Andor’ Actor Alex Lawther

Between the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, there isn’t much in the way of productions going on in the United States as film/television workers are looking to get a fair deal in the wake of streaming and the increasing threat of artificial intelligence. While multiple shows and movies have halted some are pushing through such as the upcoming/untitled Earthbound “Alien” prequel streaming series coming from Noah Hawley (“Fargo,” “Legion”)

A new report from Deadline is now confirming that filming in Thailand is going ahead as planned with the addition of actors such as “Andor” supporting cast member Alex Lawther (“Black Mirror”) and Samuel Blenkin (“Black Mirror,” “The Sandman”). The rest of the cast includes Sydney Chandler (“Don’t Worry Darling”), Essie Davis, and Adarsh Gourav. All the deals had reportedly been secured before the strike and Equity performers (the UK union for actors) have been told if they walk they would be sued. Sounds like a totally normal and not all bizarre environment to be shooting a show in.

The outlet adds shooting has already started this week with none of the actors on set being SAG-AFTRA, which allows them to shoot the show without crossing the picket line. Actors like Chandler, who are part of the union, are said to be not involved in the current round of filming as it’s expected their scenes will be shot at a later date once the actors’ strike is resolved.

Of course, is sort of an odd time for the “Alien” franchise as the newest feature film from filmmaker Fede Alvarez had recently wrapped filming as that project had been upgraded from a Hulu-exclusive to landing a prime August 16, 2024, theatrical release date from 20th Century Studios/Disney. The thinking likely is that given how big of a hit “Prey” has been they didn’t want to lose an opportunity to actually make some cash off the sci-fi horror film.

It’s still unclear when the FX on Hulu series will be airing as the scheduling for shooting scenes with the attached SAG-AFRTRA actors will likely be determined by how long the strike goes on back in the United States. What hypothetically could end up happening if the studio runs out of patience is that those striking actors could end up being recast, although, that seems like an extremely stupid move on their part.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Alien: Romulus’ Adds ‘Madame Web’ Actress Isabela Merced

The Alien franchise is in a really odd place these days as the theaterical IP is being mined for streaming with an Earthbound series coming from Noah Hawley and seventh feature film (not counting the the AVP installments) hailing from director Fede Álvarez (Don’t Breathe, The Evil Dead). The latter is ramping up production with casting in full-swing and we’ve finally got a second name attached to Alien: Romulus.

Another rising actress has been tapped for a lead role as Deadline reports that Isabela Merced (Sicario: Day of The Soldado, Madame Web, Sweet Girl) and will co-star alongside Cailee Spaeny (DEVS, Pacific Rim: Uprising). Merced isn’t a stranger to the horror genre as she was seen not too long ago in The Craft remake.

Production designer Naaman Marshall (Underwater, Mortal Kombat, Knock At The Cabin) and cinematographer Galo Olivares (Gretel & Hansel) are the main department heads on the sci-fi horror pic with more actors expected to be named in the coming weeks. We’re still waiting on concrete plot details for Alien: Romulus, where the film takes place within the Alien timeline, and when we can expect the film to drop on Hulu.

Álvarez helming the film was a bit of surprise given that current franchise producer Ridley Scott has long been trying to get a third prequel film, Alien: Awakening, off the ground as a follow-up to Alien: Covenant. At the end of that film, we saw David (Michael Fassbender) now in control of the ship along with the colonists that could be used for his xenomorph experiments. Daniels (Katherine Waterston) and Tennessee (Danny McBride) had survived their horrific ordeal as they’ve been placed back into hyper-sleep. However, it remains to be seen if we’ll ever see that third project come to fruition as Scott is getting ready to shoot his Gladiator sequel starring Oscar-nominated actor Paul Mescal (Aftersun) over the summer and will likely have more film projects to focus on beyond that as the filmmaker is very busy.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Alien: Romulus’ Enlists Cinematographer Galo Olivares For Latest Installment In The Sci-Fi Horror Franchise

The Ronin can confirm that the upcoming Alien movie from filmmaker Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead, The Girl In The Spider’s Web) has hired cinematographer Galo Olivares for the next installment of the franchise. It’s been reported that actress Cailee Spaeny (Pacific Rim: Uprising) in the lead role, although, further details have been scarce or where in the Alien timeline the pic will take place or if we’ll be seeing any established characters show up.

Olivares previously worked on Gretel & Hansel along with being part of the camera team on the Oscar-winning drama Roma from Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón.

This next Alien film will certainly be an interesting experiment for 20th Century Studios, as it’ll be the first film in the franchise specifically being made as streaming exclusive for Hulu (not unlike Prey). We’ll keep our fingers crossed that Disney/20th Century will have the common sense to actually give the project a theatrical run, even if it’s only a couple of weeks.

UPDATE: Apparently, listed on IMDB the film’s production designer is said to be Naaman Marshall (Mortal Kombat, Knock At The Cabin), who previously worked on the sci-fi horror film Underwater (See trailer below) starring Kristen Stewart that seemingly took direct inspiration from films like Alien and Leviathan. However, we’re unable to confirm this new tidbit but certainly exciting as Marshall’s work on Underwater was stunning. This wouldn’t be the first time working with Álvarez as Marshall was the production designer on 2016’s Don’t Breathe, which shares the same screenwriters of Romulus.

Álvarez helming the film was a bit of surprise given that current franchise producer Ridley Scott has long been trying to get a third prequel film, Alien: Awakening, off the ground as a follow-up to Alien: Covenant. At the end of that film, we saw David (Michael Fassbender) now in control of the ship along with the colonists that could be used for his xenomorph experiments. Daniels (Katherine Waterston) and Tennessee (Danny McBride) had survived their horrific ordeal as they’ve been placed back into hyper-sleep. However, it remains to be seen if we’ll ever see that third project come to fruition as Scott is getting ready to shoot his Gladiator sequel starring Oscar-nominated actor Paul Mescal (Aftersun) over the summer and will likely have more film projects to focus on beyond that as the filmmaker is very busy.

We’re still waiting on more casting information for the film alongside when we’re expected to see Alien: Romulus drop on Hulu.

Posted on in Television News

EXCLUSIVE: FX’s ‘Alien’ Series Adds ‘Gravity’ Production Designer Andy Nicholson

The Ronin can exclusively reveal a nifty department head hiring for the upcoming Alien series on FX that hails from showrunner Noah Hawley with Ridley Scott‘s involvement via his production company Scott Free. We’ve been able to confirm that production Designer Andy Nicholson has been tasked for the Earthbound prequel series.

The spinoff Alien series is expected to take place before the events of the main canonical Alien films, which should be interesting since neither the original Ripley films or Scott’s two prequels featuring the homicidal android David have never hinted or established that the xenomorph had ever been on Earth (The AVP movies aren’t really considered canonical) or experimental on by humans.

Nicholson’s career as a production designer spans across all sorts of films such as Gravity, Captain Marvel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Assassin’s Creed, and the Netflix action-comedy Red Notice.

Hawley is no stranger to genre television working on series like the massively popular Fargo (loosely inspired by the Coen Brothers film) and the mind-bending X-Men series, Legion. What’s interesting is we still haven’t heard any real concrete casting announcements, but that is expected to change as production ramps up.

This isn’t the only Alien project on the horizon either, a new feature film is also on the way as a Hulu exclusive with both Scott Free and 20th Century Studios partnering. The project is expected to be a streaming only venture, although, after the demand to see their Predator prequel Prey on the big screen the studio might reconsider giving the new pic a short theatrical run.

Posted on in News, Television News

Ridley Scott Already Taking Shots At Noah Hawley’s ‘Alien’ Series: “It’ll Never Be As Good As The First One”

Last December, it was made official by Disney that Noah Hawley (Legion, Fargo) would be making an Earthbound series set within the Alien franchise for FX On Hulu with Ridley Scott taking a producing role (Scott being the gatekeeper of the Alien franchise via Scott Free).

While speaking with The Independent, Ridley Scott gives the impression he might be more hands-off than we previously expected and proceeded to theorize the show will “never” be as good as his original 1979 film, which comes off as more of a dig towards Hawley than trying to motivate the successful creator of FX’s Legion and Fargo to outshine Alien.

“Wherever [the series goes], whatever they do, ‘It’ll never be as good as the first one,’ [Scott grins] ‘That’s what I’ll say.’”

These somewhat passive-aggressive comments aren’t terribly shocking given that Ridley Scott seems to big his own biggest cheerleader and believing he alone knows what is best for the Alien franchise. Then again, Alien: Covenant ended up one of the biggest misfires in the franchise and due to it’s weak audience response, the cliffhanger ending never paid off similar to Prometheus.

When Neill Blomkamp got candid about Alien 5 over the summer, the director cited Ridley Scott as the reason his movie never went into production and how he basically intervened with the studio to have him thrown off Alien 5, potentially because of Chappie.

“At the end of the day even though Ridley Scott is producing it, he brought that to the world, so if he changes his mind or if there is a director on it he doesn’t want, whatever it may be, it’s his. I understand that, it makes logical sense to me.”

“It’s possible that Ridley watched Chappie and he was like, this guy can’t do Alien so let’s just go ahead and move on.”

Scott already taking minor shots on the series in the press isn’t all that surprising, hopefully, he won’t throw his weight around for a second time to get another Alien project killed/blocked.

The director has The Last Duel and House of Gucci hitting theaters alongside period dramas Kitbag and a sequel to Gladiator on the horizon to go behind cameras in the near future. While he’s teased talks with 20th Century Studios about a third Alien prequel, that hasn’t been made official or greenlit.

FX boss John Landgraf previously indicated back in August that the show could be ready for 2023 (possible 2022 shoot) and will feel like it is part of the cinematic universe.

“I think you’ll also see that the show will feel like a part of the cinematic universe you’re familiar with in terms of Alien. I have optimism that that show may well roll out in 2023. It will probably roll out 2023, but we want to get it right.”

Noah Hawley is also busy lining up an untitled heist thriller at Netflix starring Rege-Jean Page and will be produced by The Russo Brothers.

Granted, Alien is an amazing movie, but it comes off as reductive and childish for Scott to dismiss the potential of the series before it’s even started filming.

SOURCE: THE INDEPENDENT