FX seems to be on a roll with creator Noah Hawley. He’s successfully wrapped up 4 seasons of Fargo and 3 of Legion, and with the announcement that he’ll be helming a new Alien television show for the studio shows no signs of slowing down. While reception to the series overall has been lukewarm with recent films, a television series could be just the thing to bring it back to form.
The Alien adaptation is expected to air sometime in 2021, with no exact date pinned down just yet. The news that this show is coming to fruition is quite exciting, and for those who haven’t heard of Hawley or seen his past work there’s a whole lot to get riled up about.
Alien fans are torn on Ridley Scott’s recent attempts to resurrect the franchise. Prometheus was certainly interesting but failed to pay off in a lot of ways with 2017’s Alien: Covenant. His involvement is undoubtedly a positive though, ensuring that the series stays faithful to the spirit of the original films. Fans who are concerned should be assured that Noah Hawley’s steady hand will help to create a more well-rounded team behind the scenes. As mentioned previously, Hawley’s track record is more than reassuring.
Fans of the series already know, but FX on the whole has been releasing solid content for some time now. Fargo and Legion may not be entirely mainstream, but they have a dedicated following largely in part due to their deliberate pacing, intricate plotting, and strong characters. While Legion was known for getting a little trippy at times, both that show and Fargo have very dark undertones and a nasty side to them that should translate nicely to an Alien show.
Legion in particular demonstrates how Hawley can take an existing property and make it something all its own. While the series was based on a character from the X-Men universe, it rarely touched on that material directly (Aside from the fact that the characters with powers were referred to as “mutants”). If Hawley is able to apply his skills in adapting material but making it something different to a new Alien story, there’s no reason that it can’t be something great that fits within the canon but also stands on its own.
There’s a reason that Alien: Covenant felt slightly disappointing at times. Unfortunately, the films have somewhat dug themselves into a bit of a hole, creatively speaking. With only around two to two and a half hours to tell a story within the average movie, filmmakers have to make choices about advancing the series narrative while also meeting audience expectations. As seen with Prometheus, a lack of Xenomorphs will not be looked kindly upon by fans, even if interesting questions are posed to the audience in the process.
A television series has the advantage of additional time to work with, meaning that there’s room to delve into the more philosophical aspects of sci-fi as a genre and still allow for plenty of the horror trappings Alien is known for. This has worked well for other series. Imagine if Game of Thrones was limited to just feature-length films. Or if the new Watchmen series from HBO was forced to condense its sprawling narrative to a single movie. Here’s to hoping the additional time allows for a more fleshed-out, thoughtful story.
Early reports indicate that the new series will take place on Earth, a franchise first (not counting Alien Vs. Predator). Almost every Alien film deals with humans fighting against Xenomorphs on foreign planets or on a spaceship, with the ultimate goal being to survive. Typically, there’s also a dastardly attempt involved by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation to retrieve a Xenomorph if possible. However, with the series now taking place on Earth, this creates some tantalizing possibilities. Will audiences get a peek into the inner workings of this sinister corporation, or even perhaps witness the arrival of Xenomorphs on planet Earth? Time will tell.
At least in terms of television shows and movies, 2021 appears poised to give back everything that 2020 took from audiences. Highly anticipated blockbusters like Marvel’s Black Widow decided to sit the year out, while films like Tenet that did choose to release this Summer failed to meet studio expectations. On the television side of things, many shows either had their production delayed to next year or shut down amidst the COVID-19 outbreak (Fargo’s fourth season was an example of this).
But with a vaccine in the early stages of distribution and a full sleight of shows and movies appearing poised to finally release, audiences can have a little hope for a 2021 that will show a return to a more regular release schedule.
FX’s Alien series is set to air sometime in 2021.
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