Alien: Earth Finally Has a Release Date, Episode Count, and New Story Details

Alien: Earth premieres its first two episodes on August 12 on Hulu at 8pm ET, and on FX and Disney+ internationally at 8pm PT / ET. New episodes of the eight-episode season debut each following Tuesday.

Set in 2120 (well after Prometheus and just two years before Alien and the unfortunate events that befell the crew of the Nostromo), Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth sees the mysterious deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot crash-land on Earth, with a young woman called Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers making “a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat.”

As a reference point, the recently released interquel Alien: Romulus takes place between Alien and Aliens.

At this point in the Alien timeline, Earth is governed by five corporations: Weyland-Yutani (the main evil corp of the Alien franchise), Prodigy, Lynch, Dynamic, and Threshold. Cyborgs and synthetics coexist with humans, but then the boss of Prodigy invents hybrids (humanoid robots with human consciousness). Wendy is the first hybrid prototype (and is part of the established push for immortality that is a running theme in the Alien franchise).

This line of detail is interesting: after Weyland-Yutani’s spaceship collides with Prodigy City, Wendy and the other hybrids encounter mysterious life forms "more terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined."

This suggests there will be more monsters in the show than the Xenomorph, or perhaps more Xenomorph types. There are said to be five in total.

Here's the official blurb:

In the year 2120, the Earth is governed by five corporations: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic and Threshold. In this Corporate Era, cyborgs (humans with both biological and artificial parts) and synthetics (humanoid robots with artificial intelligence) exist alongside humans. But the game is changed when the wunderkind Founder and CEO of Prodigy Corporation unlocks a new technological advancement: hybrids (humanoid robots infused with human consciousness). The first hybrid prototype named “Wendy” marks a new dawn in the race for immortality. After Weyland-Yutani’s spaceship collides into Prodigy City, “Wendy” and the other hybrids encounter mysterious life forms more terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined.

Alien: Earth cast:

• Sydney Chandler (Wendy)
• Timothy Olyphant (Kirsh),
• Alex Lawther (Hermit)
• Samuel Blenkin (Boy Kavalier)
• Babou Ceesay (Morrow)
• Adrian Edmondson (Atom Eins)
• David Rysdahl (Arthur Sylvia)
• Essie Davis (Dame Sylvia)
• Lily Newmark (Nibs)
• Erana James (Curly)
• Adarsh Gourav (Slightly)
• Jonathan Ajayi (Smee)
• Kit Young (Tootles)
• Diêm Camille (Siberian)
• Moe Bar-El (Rashidi)
• Sandra Yi Sencindiver (Yutani)

In January last year, showrunner Noah Hawley explained why he is not using the backstory provided in Prometheus for Alien: Earth, saying he likes the "retro-futurism" of the original films. Hawley said he spoke to Alien chief Ridley Scott about "many, many elements" of the Alien series, including its ties to the prequels, but ultimately decided to cut loose and move away from the bioweapon backstory because he preferred the lore of the original films.

It's a busy time for the Alien franchise. Alien: Romulus 2 is in the works, and it looks like Alien is once again crossing over with the Predator franchise in the upcoming Predator: Badlands.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.