ALIEN: EARTH Creator Noah Hawley Breaks Down That Controversial Xenomorph Development in Episode 7
Noah Hawley, the mastermind behind Alien: Earth, has opened up about one of the most controversial moments in Episode 7, “Emergence.”
Spoilers ahead!
Fans were stunned when Wendy (Sydney Chandler) not only communicates with a Xenomorph but uses it to take out Yutani soldiers, raising all kinds of moral and lore questions. Hawley reveals that this choice wasn’t made lightly.
In Emergence, Wendy does something unexpected: she orders a Xenomorph to kill soldiers, a move tied to her anger over how hybrids are treated and what’s been done to Nibs.
Hawley describes Wendy as being only twelve, dealing with what he calls “some executive function issues,” so her decisions are emotional, reactive, and not always well thought out.
He frames her attempt to connect with the creature as part of a larger theme in Alien: Earth… communication with Xenomorphs. He references Aliens (James Cameron) where the Queen interacts with her drones via unknown means, maybe pheromones? telekinetics? a frequency?
These mysteries always seemed fertile ground, and Wendy’s arc is meant to explore what happens when such communication seems possible.
When asked whether Wendy having a Xenomorph as some kind of pet was somewhere the show might go, Hawley was very clear:
“One of the big question marks was if fans were going to go with this idea. I don’t want her to have [a Xenomorph as a] pet. But if it seems like an alliance has been struck, what are the interesting possibilities that we can pull out of that? And because this is a horror story, we have to assume that, ultimately, I wouldn’t bet on this working out.”
So even though the show flirts with the idea of Wendy being able to ally with a monster, Hawley warns us there’s always consequence. It’s not going to be clean or safe. The tension is built into the narrative itself.
This plot point is more than shock value. Hawley says Wendy’s relationship with the Xenomorph reflects her moral development. She’s angry, disillusioned, and trying to believe the creatures are not wholly to blame, “that they didn’t ask to come here, and we shouldn’t experiment on them the way that she’s being experimented on.”
But believing something doesn’t make it safe. There's a core tension here, can Wendy choose humanity even in her anger? And if she leans too far, does she risk becoming monstrous in her own right? Hawley suggests that her detachment from human morality is exactly what raises the risk.
Alien: Earth appears to be shifting familiar ground. The franchise has long portrayed Xenomorphs as unrelenting horror, monsters to flee, fight, or contain. Having one seem to respond, follow, even act as an ally (temporarily) upends that dynamic.
Hawley isn’t rewriting horror so much as stretching it, posing the question: What if these creatures could respond on some level? And what would that cost?
He also admits there was risk in pulling this thread. Will fans accept it? Will it feel like betrayal of the mythos? The comments suggest some are already uncomfortable with Wendy having the alien at her command. But Hawley seems to believe it’s a risk worth taking for dramatic depth.
Wendy connecting with a Xenomorph is one of Alien: Earth’s most interesting moves yet. Hawley clearly doesn’t intend for it to become a “cute monster companion” story. Instead it’s about tension, consequences, moral ambiguity. We shouldn’t expect this alliance to last unscathed. But it might push the story into new territory.
What do you think? Does giving Wendy this kind of power make her more interesting or risk undermining what makes the Xenomorph terrifying?
Source: THR