(NOTE: This 2022 image of Timothy Olyphant sources from a Lloyd Bishop- captured NBC late-night visit via Getty Images. Although it looks very cool, it definitely isn’t an image showing Olyphant on the set of FX’s Alien.)
Fans of Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien movie and James Cameron’s 1986 Aliens film are about to enjoy a wealth of visits to the franchise. First, 2013 Evil Dead director Fede Álvarez will deliver Alien: Romulus, which takes place in between the aforementioned classic installments. That movie arrives on August 16 and looks like a facehugging good time, and after that terror calms down, it will be time to anticipate FX’s take on the franchise in an Alien TV series from Fargo showrunner and Legion creator Noah Hawley. Let’s not waste any further time and get to the good stuff.
Plot
FX’s Alien has been filming in Thailand and will take place on Earth (where xenomorphs could potentially run amuck, as opposed to being confined to a spaceship) in the not-so-distant future (70-ish years away from our current chaos), and if you know Noah Hawley’s work, then you realize that there will be plenty of unexpected turns. Naturally, the production details have been under lock and key, and there has been no confirmation whether xenomorphs will actually be on hand, but there will be some type of monster.
Star Timothy Olyphant opened up on that subject ever so slightly while speaking with Vanity Fair about how that monster freed up time, so he could hang out with Justified co-star Walton Goggins during Alien filming breaks:
“Bangkok’s really special. There’s a monster in [Alien], and the monster takes up a lot of screen time. That lets me go down to the beach. I got to go see my buddy Walton Goggins down there filming The White Lotus.”
FX chief John Landgraf also divulged details about the show (via Hollywood Reporter), confirming that this series will not include Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley because the story takes place prior to Ripley’s birth. Landgraf also revealed that this series would be faithful to both Scott and Cameron’s movies while leaving the franchise’s other films out of the discussion:
“Noah has an incredible ability to both find a way of being faithful and showing fidelity to an original creation, like to the Coen brothers [with Fargo] or to Ridley Scott’s movie and James Cameron’s follow-up Aliens, but also to bring something new that represents both an extension and reinvention of a franchise at the same time. He’s done a masterful job with Alien as he did with Fargo. There are some big surprises in store for the audience.”
In contrast, Alien: Romulus will act as a claustrophobic ship-confined interquel that takes place between Alien and Aliens. In both cases, the emphasis in forward-facing statements acknowledges that a back-to-basics attitude will exist, but given the specified time frame and setting of FX’s Alien, we shall get to see how humanity reacted to alien life before a xenomorph came to tangle with space truckers.
Cast
The cast will be led by Sydney Chandler and Olyphant, who (according to Deadline) will reportedly be playing a synth named Kirsh, which honestly seems like the ideal role for him in this franchise. The rest of the cast includes Alex Lawther, Kit Young, Essie Davis, David Rysdahl, Samuel Blenkin, Adarsh Gourav, Babou Ceesay, Jonathan Ajayi, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Diêm Camille, and Adrian Edmondson.
Release Date
FX hasn’t publicly pinpointed a release date, but the series will debut in 2025.
Trailer
Since there’s no earthly way a trailer exists yet, here’s a clip of Olyphant telling Conan O’Brien about that Avengers: Endgame cameo that never was. Well, it’s Olyphant’s time to confront alien life now, so dreams do come true.