Fargo creator Noah Hawley recently shared some significant details about the upcoming Alien prequel series that he’s been developing for FX for the last number of years and he specifically shared how the series will diverge from a number of the more recent films in the franchise.
An alien in Alien: Covenant (2017), 20th Century Fox
During an appearance on The Business podcast hosted by Kim Masters, Hawley spoke to Eric Deggans and revealed what his main goal for the series is, “I think that if I have a skill at this in this niche that I have carved for myself of kind of reimaging great films in long-form that sort of understanding of how the movie made me feel and how to create that feeling in others while telling a totally different story.”
He continued, “And the thing with Alien is that it’s not a great monster movie. It’s the story of humanity trapped between its primordial parasitic past and the AI future, and they’re both trying to kill us. So, there’s nowhere to go. It’s really a story of does humanity deserve to survive? Does humanity’s arrogance in thinking that we’re no longer food and its arrogance at creating these AI beings who we think will do what we tell them — but ultimately might lose their minds — is there a way out?”
A scene from Aliens (1986), 20th Century Fox
He elaborated on this idea, “There’s a moment in the second film [1986’s Aliens] where Sigourney Weaver says, ‘I don’t know which species is worse — you don’t see them screwing each other over for a percentage.’ I think there’s something really intriguing about that idea for me, which is about an exploration of humanity in all its goods and evils.”
Hawley then reiterated, “And then trying to recreate for an audience those feelings you had in watching those first two films — which isn’t easy in a franchise that has had four subsequent films and another film coming out soon [Alien: Romulus], but I think I have some tricks up my sleeve.”
Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Alien 3 (1992), 20th Century Fox
When asked about if the show will relate to the more recent releases in the Alien franchise and specifically how the Alien was created, Hawley made it clear he will be steering clear of them.
He explained, “Well, I think and Ridley and I have talked about this — and many, many elements of the show. I think, for me, and for a lot of people, this ‘perfect life form’ — as it was described in the first film — is the product of millions of years of evolution that created this creature that may have existed for a million years out there in space. ”
“The idea that, on some level, it was a bioweapon created half an hour ago, is just inherently less useful to me in terms of the mythology, and what’s scary about this monster,” he said.
A spaceship in Alien: Covenant (2017), 20th Century Fox
Hawley elaborated, “What I also will say is that when you look at those first two movies, what you have this retro-futuristic technology. You have giant computer monitors, these weird keyboards … And you have to make a choice. Am I doing that? Because in the prequels that Ridley made the technology was thousands of years more advanced than the technology of Alien, which is supposed to take place in that movie’s future.”
“And so there’s something about that that doesn’t really compute for me. And I prefer the retro-futurism of the first two films. And so that’s the choice that I’ve made is to embrace that. There’s no holograms. The convenience of beautiful Apple store technology is not available to me,” he concluded.
A scene from Prometheus (2012), 20th Century Fox
Hawley previously revealed plot details to Vanity Fair telling the outlet, ” 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. ”
He also shared, “On some level it’s also a story about inequality. You know, one of the things that I love about the first movie is how ’70s a movie it is, and how it’s really this blue collar space-trucker world in which Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton are basically Waiting for Godot.”
“They’re like Samuel Beckett characters, ordered to go to a place by a faceless nameless corporation. The second movie is such an ’80s movie, but it’s still about grunts. Paul Reiser is middle management at best. So, it is the story of the people you send to do the dirty work,” Hawley explained.
A scene from Alien: Covenant (2017), 20th Century Fox
He further detailed, “In mine, you’re also going to see the people who are sending them. 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? There’s that great Sigourney Weaver line to Paul Reiser where she says, “I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t f**k each other over for a percentage.”
The Alien Queen in Aliens (1986), 20th Century Fox
What do you make of Hawley steering clear of the more recent Alien films such as Prometheus and Alien: Covenant?
First is it happening? I knew about it, heard about it, heard it was still happening, then it it was not, then it got canceled. So yes, No?
If it is still happening, I’m kind of a little surprised either it no connection to the new film or the old ones or even Prometheus, Alien: Covenant. Or connection to AVP Aliens, Predators &, The Terminators & Even Blade Runner since they are all supposed to exist in the same universe?
Well maybe not have connection to last 2 in this show, or even Predators, but why not the previous movies or even the recent and the new one? Is this going to set in different Earth/Universe? If not, is it set in the future, but maybe none of the events of the 1st Alien and ones after the 1st Alien movie have not happened yet, or the same for Prometheus & Alien: Covenant.
But it set in future, why mention the 2 AVP movies, like something happened in the distance past, or even way before the war with machines, just to get a little not the other series that are supposed, to connected to Aliens?
I just do not see why, he would not want at lest some connection to the other movies the old ones or the new coming out?