ALIEN Showrunner Noah Hawley Details The Extent Of Sir Ridley Scott's Involvement With FX TV Series

ALIEN Showrunner Noah Hawley Details The Extent Of Sir Ridley Scott's Involvement With FX TV Series

Alien showrunner Noah Hawley (Legion) has detailed some of the challenges he's faced making a series which is distinctly his, while also revealing the extent of Sir Ridley Scott's creative involvement.

By JoshWilding - Nov 18, 2023 05:11 AM EST
Filed Under: Alien
Source: THR (via SFFGazette.com)

After what's proven to be some unmissable work with TV shows like Fargo and Legion, it's hardly surprising to see so much hype surrounding Noah Hawley's plans for an Alien TV series on FX. Very little has been revealed about the project, though shooting had started shortly before the Hollywood strikes closed everything down.

Cameras will now resume rolling early next year and the show, which serves as a prequel to Sir Ridley Scott's classic 1979 movie, is expected to move the action to Earth while featuring plenty of Xenomorph action. 

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter (via SFFGazette.com), Hawley explained why joining the Alien franchise appealed to him more than moving forward with Star Trek 4 (another sci-fi project he was attached to for a time). 

"When you find the right partner and they ask, 'Do you want to do Alien?' - which is a hugely valuable franchise to this company - it’s, 'Do you want to do your version of Alien?' It’s a very different conversation. What I found with Star Trek was I got onto the runway and then there was a managerial changeover. In retrospect, it’s not that they killed the movie."

"It’s that I got as far as I did with a wholly original idea, until someone said, 'Well, wait a minute, what are we even doing with this valuable IP? Just giving it to him to make up a story? That’s not how corporate filmmaking works.' So, if the call came in to do a big franchise film again, it would have to come with a sense of, "We want you to do your version of it.'"

Asked what the biggest challenge of making his version of Alien has been, Hawley explained that a series of different regimes - work began before 20th Century Fox was acquired by Disney - was the main hurdle. As for Alien and Prometheus helmer Sir Ridley Scott's involvement with the project, it sounds like plenty of conversations have taken place, only for those to be the extent of the filmmaker's input. 

"I mean, are the Coens involved in Fargo? Let’s just say, I’ve probably had more conversations with Ridley than I’ve had with Joel and Ethan. Scott Free [Productions] is producing Alien and Ridley is making two or three movies a year is basically how that’s working."

"I mean, Ridley has been an amazing collaborator to the degree that I can pick his brain about all of his thoughts, processes, decisions and the things that he’s learned. And I try to keep him [in the loop] and send him material so that he feels respected and included. But also, he’s doing his thing."

The Alien franchise has been very hit-and-miss in recent years, so we're hoping that both this and Fede Álvarez's movie, Alien: Romulus, put it back on the right - and suitably horrifying - track. 

This series is currently expected to premiere on FX in 2025. Stay tuned to SFFGazette.com for the latest updates.

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lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 11/18/2023, 5:15 AM
I mean, I guess it could be interesting. However, I'd much rather have a Predator prequel series.
Still think this'll be pretty good tho.
MisterKite
MisterKite - 11/18/2023, 12:36 PM
@lazlodaytona - I mean between Alien and Predator, I still feel Alien is the superior franchise. The biology of the Xenomorphs alone is fascinating to me. Not to mention, Ridley Scott's take on Artificial Intelligence like David, Ash, or Bishop is truly unnerving. However, Predator has really stepped up it's game with the movie "Prey" so I would also be interested in a Predator series if it was anything close to that.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 11/18/2023, 12:53 PM
@MisterKite - fair enough.

But I also believe 2010's (i believe) Predators with Adrien Brody is highly underrated as well.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 11/18/2023, 5:19 AM
Between this show and Fede Alvarez's movie next year, we're eating good! Plus Aliens special edition releasing on 4k next year as well. Ridley Scott hasn't made a good movie since hmm, black Hawk Down or Gladiator. "From the director of all these good movies"
TCronson
TCronson - 11/18/2023, 6:55 AM
@bobevanz - he's made plenty of good movies since Black Hawk Dawn, certainly better than absolute garbage Alvarez and Hawley are making with Alien right now.
MarvelZombie616
MarvelZombie616 - 11/18/2023, 8:15 AM
I liked House of Gucvi and a Knight's Tale and i'm also looking forward to Napoleon next thursday.

But Scott ruined the perfect script of Prometheus with his nonsensical changes and Alien Covenant was mostly bad.

Imo he is a great director when he does his own original thing, but he isn't as good inside the confinements of an existing ip, even if he himself helped to create it.

That's why i don't expect Gladiator 2 being anywhere near as good as the first one.
I'm still watching it, though.

Lem1
Lem1 - 11/18/2023, 11:43 AM
@MarvelZombie616 - A Knight's Tale wasn't Ridley Scott-directed, but good movie
MarvelZombie616
MarvelZombie616 - 11/18/2023, 8:32 AM
OT: The Marvels made only $3.5 million on friday in 4,030 theatres.
It's expected to make $12.25 millions (-73%) on it's 2nd weekend.

It made less than $55 million in week 1 and should stand at roughly $71.5 after week 2 if that projection holds.

As it looks it will reach the $100 million
around mid-december.
CAPTAINPINKEYE
CAPTAINPINKEYE - 11/18/2023, 8:41 AM
@MarvelZombie616 - Hey! Let Josh write the article! We all know how much he loves it when a D….
Oh
It’s a Marvel film that’s flopping. My mistake. Carry on sir and/or madam.
Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 11/18/2023, 9:01 AM
@MarvelZombie616 - A massive trainwreck of a flop performing even worse than that piece of shit Flash movie, yet it's huge failure at the box office is barely being covered on this site.

It's likely this movie won't even make $200 million worldwide on a $270 million dollar budget.

CAPTAINPINKEYE
CAPTAINPINKEYE - 11/18/2023, 8:46 AM
I really liked Prometheus. I thought it was amazing the way he connected it to the first one. I also love how he once again shows that corporations are the biggest monsters. I just don’t understand why Covenant took a 180 turn from the way Prometheus ended.
Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 11/18/2023, 9:09 AM
"Cameras will now resume rolling early next year and the show, which serves as a prequel to Sir Ridley Scott's classic 1979 movie,"

Prometheshit was a prequel, so is this a prequel to a prequel or an in-betweenequel? 😑

Scott and the horrendous writers of Prometheus and Covenant took all the mystery of the xenomorphs and "explained" it in the most convoluted, illogical, and moronic ways possible.
They destroyed the mystique by explaining something that didn't need to be explained; a problem that many prequels have.

Now, you're gonna take those formerly threatening mysterious creatures and make them fully cgi on a weekly tv series?

CrazyJ
CrazyJ - 11/18/2023, 9:43 AM
@JohnPain - Wouldn’t want to assume Ridley’s pronouns.
CrazyJ
CrazyJ - 11/18/2023, 9:41 AM
Ridley spoke in one interview that this tv series so to be as good or as scary as his film, :o it came across like he didn't approve of it, pervades changed his tune and is given the project his blessing, he was complimentary to Fede's Alien Romulus assuming he's being honest with his opinion. I'm rather curious at what degree of Ridley Scott is involved with shepherding the Alien Franchise as of recently whether he's just given a paycheck n he gets an executive producer credit though he didn't do anything for the project, or if he helps to finance and oversee development or that he intrinsically provides creative consulting considering g he's Alien's co creator with Dan OBannon, Ron Shusett and producers David Giler, Gordon Carroll and Walter Hill.

I'm sure somebody has guessed this on the forums already that due to the number of times composer Roque Baños has collaborated with Feds Alvarez it's rather likely he'll due the score for Alien Romulus. Also I predict that composer Jeff Russo who collaborates frequently with Noah Hawley on projects that he's very like to provide music for Alien's tv series, though this is a wild guess, we'll wait and see.
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 11/18/2023, 10:14 AM
The Extent Of Sir Ridley Scott's Involvement is the same that James cameron had with terminator dark fate, you pay him some money and he'll say good things about it to help promote the product.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 11/18/2023, 2:41 PM


I pray this will be good.

But I know it won't.

Batmangina
Batmangina - 11/18/2023, 3:00 PM
I was hoping for: Sir Ridley drove by at breakneck speed, yelled 'I smell shite!!' and hurled a red cup filled with urine at the writing staff.

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