Earth Won't Break The Alien Timeline

Important takeaways

• Alien: Earth will be the first Alien series, going back in time to Earth for a new origin story.
• The series will explore the evolution of the Xenomorphs and show them as a threat already, diverging from previous interpretations.
• Alien: Earth could pick up unanswered questions from previous films, potentially weaving together the franchise's complex history.

A new race hatches from the eggs Foreign IP, and while fans are still reeling from the horrors of Alien: Romulusthe franchise is about to go in a completely different direction. Coming to FX Hulu in 2025, Noah Hawley's Alien: Earth is set to go somewhere Foreign movies have always seemed afraid to go: humanity's home planet.

As well as being first Foreign tv series, Alien: Earth will chart another era of the franchise's history, taking audiences further back than ever before for an origin story set on Earth. While this won't necessarily serve as an origin story for the Xenomorphs themselves, it will instead look at how humanity comes to the sad state it was in during Ridley Scott's original Foreign.

Where does Alien: Earth take place in the Alien timeline?

When Foreign came onto the scene in 1979, everything was pretty simple, and from there the franchise moved forward from the year 2122. There was already a time jump between the original and James Cameron's Alienswith Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) being rescued in the year 2179. David Fincher is underrated Aliens 3 again it was easy as Ripley crashed on Fiorina 161 right after Aliensbut with another great leap, Alien: Resurrection rounded out the original series with a destroyed Earth in 2381.

Scott saw promise in the early days of Xenomorph evolution and went back to the beginning and delivered Prometheus, a prequel set 29 years before the doomed voyage of the Nostromo in the first film. There were plans for up to four prequels that would lead up to the events of Foreign. Even if one Alien: Covenant sequel was abandoned, parts of this can be seen thanks to a Ripley Easter Egg in the Romulus. However, Alien: Earth ignores all this and goes back even further than Prometheus.

Set in the year 2092, Alien: Earth lands shortly before Prometheus. It shouldn't matter, because Prometheus mainly took place on the moon LV-223, while (as the name suggests) Alien: Earth takes place on earth. There may be some crossover, which Prometheus opened with Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) finding a star map in Scotland. Still, Hawley promises his series will tell its own story. In a conversation with Variety in January 2024, the director explained his approach Alien: Earth back to the battered retrofuturism of the 1979s Foreign rather than the oddly futuristic feel of Prometheus:

“There's something about it that doesn't quite add up to me. I prefer the retro-futurism of the first two movies, and so that's the choice I've made — there are no holograms. The convenience of the beautiful Apple Store technology isn't available to me.”

Despite Alien vs. Predator films set on Earth, they are not considered canon thanks to the events of the newer one Foreign and Predator films. Although Hawley's series is expected to get into the convoluted Foreign timeline, Alien: Earth treading new territory means he's more free than the movies.

Alien: Earth teases another origin for the Xenomorphs

Scott was criticized for diving too deep into the genesis of the Xenomorph, with both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant reveals new types of aliens and suggests that David (the android played by Michael Fassbender) was their creator. The Engineers had a mural of Xenomorphs on the wall of their black goo bioweapon facility, suggesting that they are a much older race that David simply engineered an offshoot from.

Leaning into this wiggle room, Hawley has confirmed that the Xenomorphs are already a threat in the Alien: Earth. This was then confirmed by the short reel from November 2024. Again in the Variety interview, Hawley said that he and Scott have discussed the logistics:

“To me and to many people, this 'perfect life form' – as it was described in the first film – is the product of millions of years of evolution […] The idea that on some level it was a bioweapon created half an hour ago, that's just less useful to me.”

With the first trailer showing an image of Earth reflected in the skull of a Xenomorph, it hinted that the series would follow the species arriving on the planet. Instead of just focusing on the Xenomorphs, Hawley has teased it Alien: Earth will delve more into the antagonistic Weyland-Yutani Corporation's obsession with developing artificial intelligence. This may tie into the casting of Timothy Olyphant as a synth named Kirsh.

Shows xenomorphs on Earth

The official synopsis for Alien: Earth confirms some of the above and gives some serious Aliens (1986) vibes while not giving too much away:

“When a mysterious spaceship crash-lands on Earth, a young woman and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that brings them face to face with the planet's greatest threat.”

Hawley has doubled down on Earth's unique environment, telling Deadline:

“There is something about seeing a Xenomorph in the wilds of Earth, with your own eyes, that is truly terrifying.”

He said that while he can't confirm under what circumstances that will happen, there is a hint that the aliens will escape from their corporate cages when Weyland-Yutani inevitably gets hold of them. The fact that the movies don't mention that Earth has been overrun by Xenomorphs means that it could only be a small or temporary infestation.

The special edition of Alien: Resurrection showed Ripley and Winona Ryder's Cal arriving at the ruins of Earth in 2381. In the same film, Ron Perlman's character refers to Earth as a “sh*thole”. Meanwhile, i Covenant, David says that the human race is a “dying species” leaving the earth in search of resurrection. While it sounds like Hawley will undo some of the Xenomorph lore teased by Scott's prequels and possibly reveal the status of planet Earth, the fact that he's been in contact with the franchise overlord suggests that everything will weave together.

Despite the non-canonical status of AvP films, Hawley was even able to return to the idea that the Xenomorphs spread across the galaxy as part of a predator hunting ritual. After all, Romulus' Fede Álvarez has discussed the idea of ​​a new Alien vs. Predator Film. Anyway, they frustrated with Covenants dangling plot threads may have some of their questions answered in this prequel. With Alien: Earth arrives in a post-Romulus boom of love for Foreign IP, there couldn't be a better time to take the audience back to the beginning and put some more meat on those Xenomorph bones – especially against the familiar backdrop of Earth.