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Announced at the tail end of last year, Disney is working on the first-ever television series set within the Alien universe for FX/Hulu, with Noah Hawley (“Legion,” “Fargo”) developing.
What we know so far, which isn’t very much at all, is that the series will be set on Earth. FX had teased, “Expect a scary thrill ride set not too far in the future here on Earth.”
Speaking with Vanity Fair this week, Hawley teases some more details about the largely mysterious upcoming series. For starters, don’t expect the return of Ellen Ripley in this one.
“What’s next for me, it looks like, is [an] Alien series for FX, taking on that franchise and those amazing films by Ridley Scott and James Cameron and David Fincher,” Hawley explains.
He continues, “Those are great monster movies, but they’re not just monster movies. They’re about humanity trapped between our primordial, parasitic past and our artificial intelligence future—and they’re both trying to kill us. Here you have human beings and they can’t go forward and they can’t go back. So I find that really interesting.”
“It’s not a Ripley story,” Hawley makes sure to add. “She’s one of the great characters of all time, and I think the story has been told pretty perfectly, and I don’t want to mess with it. It’s a story that’s set on Earth also. 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 also notes during the interview, “On some level it’s also a story about inequality. In mine, you’re also going to see the people who are sending [the people who have to do the dirty work]. So you will see what happens when the inequality we’re struggling with now isn’t resolved. If we as a society can’t figure out how to prop each other up and spread the wealth, then what’s going to happen to us?” Hawley would seem to be referring to the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and the people who have truly been pulling all the strings over there.
Head over to Vanity Fair to read the full chat with Noah Hawley.
