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Noah Hawley’s Alien Show Will Be “Open World Saga” w/ Class Warfare
Noah Hawley has some pretty epic-sounding ideas for his upcoming Alien TV series…
Noah Hawley, the man that brought us Fargo (for TV), is currently working on his next project, an Alien TV series. Hawley is now in the pre-production phase of his new project which is headed by Disney and will eventually stream on HULU, Disney+, and FX.
Details about the TV show are pretty scant at present, but Hawley has discussed his “vision” for the TV show. And it is more open-world than how the Alien films have usually played out. Hawley says that Alien movies are always claustrophobic, featuring characters trapped with the beast, usually on a spaceship or a colony.
With Hawley’s TV show, things will be a bit different. The writer/director has said he wants to “open things up a bit” to see how that plays out. He has also confirmed that the Alien TV series will feature plenty of class warfare, likely between the Weyland-Yutani corporation and its millions of employees.
Alien TV Show Release Date?
As for when we will be able to watch Hawley’s Alien TV show, all bets are off right now – although it will likely get a release date sometime in late-2022, early 2023. Shooting is scheduled to take place in 2022, although, again, this will depend on how things play out with COVID.
There isn’t currently any casting news about the Alien TV show, though given its nature – it’s a multiple-episode series, not a film – there will likely be plenty of leading parts, both male and female. Hawley has said that he does want a strong female lead front and center, however, as a nod to the iconic Ripley character.
Because the Alien universe is so vast, it is full of graphic novels and novels, Hawley has plenty of material to go on. The director/writer has said that the series will be set in the “not too distant future” meaning it will almost certainly take place well before the timeline of the original Alien and Aliens films, as well as Prometheus and Alien Covenant.
Alien TV Show Plot
Bringing the timeline forward, closer to where we are now, will allow Hawley more creative freedom with the plot, how he deals with the genesis of the alien, and which characters are present and used. We could see a young Peter Weyland, for instance, possibly played by Guy Pearce. He did do those promotional TED talks as a young Weyland for Prometheus, after all.
Whatever happens with this series, I think we can be pretty confident that the Alien is in good hands. Ridley Scott dropped the ball big time with his last two efforts, and I think the Alien itself, as well as The Company (Weyland Yutani), does lend itself more to a TV show than a movie, especially when you factor in Disney’s resources.
And the fact that you can tell better stories with episodic productions than you can with a mere 90-minute film. Hawley can take his time, build characters out, and hopefully inject some life back into the franchise. Because after Prometheus and Covenant, god knows it needs some new ideas…
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