Alien was among the many franchises acquired by Disney when they merged with Fox, and after successfully rebooting the Predator franchise with last year's Prey, there's a lot of excitement to see what the studio has in store for the Xenomorphs.
Now, Variety is reporting (via SFFGazette.com) that FX's upcoming Alien TV series has cast its lead in actress Sydney Chandler.
She made her network television debut in Danny Boyle's Pistol on FX and has counts Don't Worry Darling, SKAM Austin, and Apple TV+'s upcoming Sugar among her credits.
This continues something of a trend for Alien as the series will once again feature a female lead. That's also the case with Fede Alvarez's upcoming movie, making this iconic sci-fi franchise one of the only ones we can think of to consistently put strong women front and centre.
We recently learned that Hawley has met with his production designer and cameras will officially begin rolling on his Alien series once the writer and director has finished working on the highly anticipated fifth season of Fargo.
The TV show was first announced in December 2020, with the filmmaker later confirming that the action will play out on Earth. FX boss Joh Landgraf has called this an "extension and reinvention" of the Alien franchise, and it's unclear whether it will tie into Alvarez's movie in any way.
However, we do know that it will be relatively standalone in nature.
"It's the first story that takes place in the Alien franchise on Earth," Landgraf revealed last year. "So, it takes place on our planet. Right near the end of this century we're in - so 70-odd years from now. Ripley won't be a part of it or any of the other characters of Alien other than the alien itself."
We're intrigued to see what direction the show takes us in, and while there will be those who are disappointed we won't focus on familiar locations and characters, an argument could be made that it's about time to move on (which was evident after watching Prometheus and Alien: Covenant).
Alien doesn't currently have a confirmed premiere window.