After years of quiet anticipation and production delays, Alien: Earth — Noah Hawley’s long-gestating entry into the iconic sci-fi horror franchise — has finally revealed its first trailer. Set decades before Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic, the series takes the terror back to its primal roots. The premise is deceptively simple: a xenomorph arrives on Earth via a crashed ship, and a group of soldiers is sent to investigate. What follows, if the trailer is any indication, is a descent into disorienting dread — a world of cold lighting, twitching shadows, and brief but chilling glimpses of inhuman forms.
Premiering on FX and Hulu this August, the series makes a notable choice in avoiding star-driven casting. Lead actor Sydney Chandler is joined by Timothy Olyphant in a supporting role, but the emphasis is clearly on atmosphere over celebrity. According to FX chairman John Landgraf, the timeline places the show near the end of the 21st century — specifically in 2120 — a few years before the events of Prometheus, though Hawley has confirmed that this new story won’t connect directly to that film’s mythology.
Best known for reshaping genre conventions with Fargo and Legion, Hawley appears to be taking a similar approach here, stripping the Alien formula down to its bones. There’s a claustrophobic tone to the visuals and sound — all echoing squelches, flickering lights, and tense silences. It suggests a show more interested in psychological fear than blockbuster spectacle, more creeping infection than explosive confrontation.
