FX/Hulu, 20th Century Studios, and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions have come together alongside creator/showrunner Noah Hawley (“Legion,” “Fargo”) to make a series set within the “Alien” universe. Filming has been underway in Thailand after a production pause due to last year’s strikes and we have a small tidbit to share.
The Ronin can confirm that director of photography Steve Annis (“I’m A Virgo”) is part of the show’s crew working on the Earthbound series that takes place before the events of the mainline film franchise. Annis is best known for the Apple TV+ series “Foundation,” the Netflix movie “I Am Mother,” the Nicolas Cage sci-fi horror flick “Color of Space,” and recently worked on Lionsgate’s remake of “The Crow.” We previously revealed that “Fargo” director Dana Gonzales would be helming an unknown number of episodes alongside Hawley and that production designer Andy Nicholson (“Captain Marvel,” “Gravity”) would be working on the show as well.
The “Alien” series has a cast that consists of Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Kit Young, Essie David, Samuel Blenkin, David Rysdahl, Adarsh Gourav, Babou Ceesay, Jonathan Ajayi, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Diêm Camille, Moe Bar-El, and Adrian Edmondson. One of the more recent additions has been Timothy Olyphant (“Justified”) who is said to be playing an android character. “Synthetics” in the “Alien” franchise have been both friends (Walter, Bishop, Call) and foes (Ash, David) to our human leads.
This isn’t the only “Alien” project on the horizon with Fede Alvarez’s “Alien: Romulus” being released on August 16, 2024, that will focus on a group of young human colonists on an off-world facility. Actress Cailee Spaeny confirmed that “Romulus” takes place between the events of the first two movies within the franchise timeline, suggesting a potential link to “Aliens” and the Hadley’s Hope outbreak on LV-426.
We also got some promising news about the “Predator” franchise as director Dan Trachtenberg (“Prey”) is set to return for a future-set film called “Badlands“ with a bunch of other projects in development including “Prey 2.” Hopefully, “Badlands” and “Romulus” end up planting seeds for a faithful feature/series incarnation of “Aliens vs Predator” that takes place in a futuristic off-world setting for that fray with the return of Colonial Marines. The lackluster “AVP” movies were some of the less interesting entries due to their contemporary Earthbound settings and the thinking is that 20th Century Studios may attempt to resurrect the comic book/video game crossover down the line.
Earlier this month it was revealed that the “Alien” series is aiming to debut sometime in 2025.
As production on the new “Alien” series is expected to resume in the new year according to creator/showrunner/director Noah Hawley, a big casting addition has been revealed by Deadline. The outlet reports that veteran actor Timothy Olyphant (“Justified”) has joined the sci-fi horror series that had been shooting in Thailand and is said to be playing an android character. Synthetic characters in the “Alien” franchise have been both friends (Walter, Bishop, Call) and foes (Ash, David) to our human leads.
Olyphant and Hawley previously worked together on the fourth season of “Fargo.”
The rest of the cast consists of Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, Essie Davis, Adarsh Gourav, and Kit Young.
While we’re waiting on more concrete plot details the show is expected to take place in the events of the original “Alien” from 1979 and specifically is set on Earth, the first installment of the main franchise to do so. Outside of Paris scenes in “Alien Resurrection” and the opening of “Prometheus.” There is an expectation it will focus on the greedy and evil corporation Weyland Industries/Weyland-Yutani, who act as the secondary antagonists that throw various expendable crew members into the meat grinder in an attempt to secure the Xenomorph for their biological weapons program.
Meanwhile, on the film front, we’re expected to have “Alien: Romulus” by director Fede Alvarez released on August 16, 2024. That pic is said to be focused on a young group of off-world colonists that are forced to confront the Xenomorph/Xenomorphs.
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.
Friday marked the 25th anniversary of German director Roland Emmerich‘s alien invasion film “Independence Day,” but it wasn’t the only big sci-fi spectacle he had been working on for 20th Century Fox.
In the wake of David Fincher‘s “Alien 3,” it felt like 20th Century Fox was over the “Alien” franchise, and Sigourney Weaver leading it. Ellen Ripley had killed herself at the end of the film making subsequent sequels seemingly moot after their lead character’s death and flopping at the box office. Thinking they were done with the Ripley saga, between “Alien 3” and “Alien Resurrection” the studio tried to develop an early incarnation of an “Alien vs. Predator” movie years before the Paul W.S. Anderson version.
A rumor appeared in 1992 (same year that “Universal Soldier” is released) that Emmerich was going to direct an “AVP” film based on the popular Dark Horse Comics run, this wasn’t hard to imagine because 1990’s “Predator 2” had given audiences a nod to the comic book crossover as they added a xenomorph skull on a wall of trophies in the predator ship at the end of the film. In 1994, “Stargate” is released and that success leads to another original humans vs. aliens project with the 1996 box office juggernaut “Independence Day,” Toho and TriStar Pictures feel confident enough to allow Roland Emmerich to direct a modern “Godzilla” reboot using CGI special effects.
In 1996, “Alien Resurrection” begins shooting in Los Angeles with French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet overseeing the sequel and Ellen Ripley is brought back via the wonders of cloning (originally going to be a clone of Newt), thanks “Jurassic Park.” The film ends with the survivors landing in Paris and leaves the door open for a fifth installment.
In the November 1997 issue of Starlog Magazine, screenwriter Dean Devlin (“Stargate,” “Independence Day,” “Godzilla“) was interviewed about his Fox Television series “The Visitor” and asked about the status with “Alien vs. Predator” he replied, “For the time being, it’s dead. We wanted to do it if they had not just decided to do ‘Alien Resurrection,’ and now we’re all just waiting around to see how that film does. If it really works, the studio is going to want to continue the franchise with just the alien. If that were to happen, then we won’t be involved at all.”
This interview taking place before “Alien Resurrection”s late November release and while the sequel made slightly more than “Alien 3,” it still didn’t meet studio expectations. The following year, Roland and Dean released their critical disaster “Godzilla,” which was ridiculed and likely could have been a reason why 20th Century Fox ultimately didn’t want them handling a crossover to their two lucrative sci-fi franchises.
Speaking of “Predator 2,” Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally going to return as Dutch in the sequel before the role was reworked as Peter Keyes for actor Gary Busey and there has been a longstanding rumor that Arnold was going to star in this “AVP” movie, there might be something behind that.
In 1991, before Emmerich’s “Universal Soldier” starring Jean-Claude Van Damme was released in 1992, Schwarzenegger visited the film’s set, and we have a bunch of photos that documented that visit. There is a possibility that Arnold was there to get a read on Roland Emmerich and speak to Jean-Claude Van Damme about his experience working with him.
JCVD’s star was rising in the 1990s and had played the first incarnation of the alien hunter in “Predator” before leaving during Stan Winston‘s redesign of the creature (with some help from James Cameron) to lead his action film “Bloodsport” instead of being hidden behind a predator costume.
Producers had been trying to lure him back to the “Predator” franchise every chance they got and a crossover with a huge budget along with the right director could be attractive enough for Arnold to get involved. A reminder, the studio was looking to move past Weaver since Ripley was dead and Schwarzenegger was hot as a pistol at the box office, Dutch was theoretically still alive and every “Predator” sequel since there have been attempts to have him appear.
“Something similar to what we did with Aliens. A bunch of great characters, and of course Sigourney [Weaver]. I’ve even discussed the possibility of putting him [Arnold Schwarzenegger] into the Alien movie,” Cameron told the BBC in 2003 about the possibility of adding Schwarzenegger to his “Alien 5.”
Paul W.S. Anderson begins shooting “Alien vs. Predator” in Prague at the end of 2003 and essentially kills “Alien 5,” finally ending the Ellen Ripley saga for good.
James Cameron pivots to “Avatar” and the film still holds the global box office record thanks to a re-release with four sequels on the horizon.
The original version of “Alien 5” would see Ridley Scott direct with Cameron producing and co-writing (possibly with “Alien Resurrection” screenwriter Joss Whedon writing too) and would take Ripley to the homeworld of the xenomorph. The project was never made, but Ridley Scott returned to tackle his prequel “Prometheus” attempting to explore the origin of Space Jockey (engineers) and was a producer on Neill Blomkamp‘s new “Alien 5” incarnation (approved by James Cameron) that would have acted as a direct sequel to “Aliens” (ignoring the other two sequels) before that also stalled, “Alien: Covenant” stepping in to fill the void.
Scott is currently producing Noah Hawley‘s “Alien” series at FX that will be set on Earth and return the franchise to its class warfare root. He’s also talked-up a third prequel film still being in the works that has previously used the working title of “Alien: Awakening.”
Over a year ago I first reported at HN Entertainment that there was a rumbling of a potential live-action Alien series from producer Ridley Scott was in the works at Hulu and later on it was revealed that Fargo‘s Noah Hawley had attempted to pitch an Alien series then played coy about show’s current status when Deadline confronted him with sourced information that it was happening.
There was a sense after HBO Max announced that Ridley Scott’s mature sci-fi series Raised By Wolves was their their most viewed original on the streaming service, that it was only a matter of time before Disney came to their senses with a series set within the Alien universe.
During the Disney Investor Day event earlier in the week, it was officially announced that the series was moving forward at FX on Hulu with a combined effort from Ridley Scott and Noah Hawley. Nothing was revealed outside the project will be the first to be set on a near future Earth, of course, they’re ignoring the Alien vs. Predator films.
Noah had recently telegraphed in an interview with the Observer his series would focus on the human-side of the Alien universe which is just as dangerous as the xenomorphs as profits come before lives.
HAWLEY: “Alien is on some level the complete opposite of Stark Trek. It’s sort of about humanity at its worst. There’s this moment in the second film when Sigourney says, ‘I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t screw each other over for a percentage.’ If you look at what Aliens tends to be, it’s usually a trapped story – trapped in a ship, trapped in a prison, etc. And because the Alien has this life cycle to it, where it goes from egg, to chestburster, to xenomorph, there becomes a certain routine to it.”
“I thought it would be interesting if you could expand. If you’re going to make something for television, you’ve got 10 hours let’s say. Even if you have a lot of action, like two hours, then you’re still going to have eight hours left. So what is the show about? That’s what I tried to talk to them about. As I did with Legion, the exercise is: Let’s take the superhero stuff out of the show and see if it’s still a great show. What’s the show about? Let’s take the Alien out of the show. What’s the show about? What are the themes, who are the characters and what is the human drama? Then we drop the aliens back in and we go, ‘This is great. Not only is there great human drama, but there’s aliens!’”
Alien is currently in development at @FXNetworks. The first TV series based on the classic film series is helmed by Fargo and Legion's @noahhawley. Expect a scary thrill ride set not too far in the future here on Earth. pic.twitter.com/KBigUGnXpB
Ridley Scott has suggested in various interviews that his Alien: Awakening (working title) could still happen and was in development at 20th Century Studios. A third incarnation of Alien V was recently being written on spec by franchise screenwriters/producers Walter Hill and David Giler. The pair have worked on Scott’s Alien, James Cameron’s Aliens, and David Fincher’s Alien 3.
We’re still waiting on Disney and 20th Century Studios to make announcements concerning the feature film side.
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