It's become clear that Sir Ridley Scott's plans to continue the Alien prequels that started with Prometheus have somewhat fallen by the wayside in recent years, especially now that Disney is in charge of the franchise. Legion and Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley was working on a spinoff series for FX before the Disney/Fox merger, and it was confirmed last year that it remains in development.
Talking to Vanity Fair, Hawley shared an update on the project, confirming that he's written the first two scripts and is looking to get started on shooting the series next spring.
"It's not a Ripley story," he confirmed when asked to share some details on what fans can expect. "She's one of the great characters of all time, and I think the story has been told pretty perfectly, and I don't want to mess with it. It's a story that's set on Earth also. The Alien stories are always trapped. Trapped in a prison, trapped in a spaceship. 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."
Hawley would go on to say that the show is ultimately about "inequality," before shedding some light on his plans to better explore the people behind the Weyland Corporation (in those early Alien movies, all we really knew was that the faceless organisation was sending these people into space).
"In [my series], 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?"
It definitely sounds like we're about to take a deeper dive into this world than in previous movies, and unleashing the Xenomorphs on Earth...well, it feels about time they pay a visit, eh?
Alien is likely going to debut on FX sometime in 2022 or 2023.