Noah Hawley's ALIEN Series Described as Being "Very Different, But Very Exciting" By Star
Like the rest of you, I’m very curious about what Noah Hawley is doing with his Alien series at FX. The guy tends to do very cool, unique, and unconventional things with the shows that he develops and I have no doubt that he’ll deliver something special with this show.
During a recent interview with THR, series star David Rysdahl teased that the show is going to be something very different. He explained:
"Noah, in a similar fashion to Fargo, takes the movie and asks, 'What's the DNA of this? What's the world perspective? What themes are we tackling? What was the original intent of this movie? Let me see if I can play with that in a new way. So he's doing a really interesting job of that on Alien, and it's going to be a very different but very exciting view of what the original movie was."
Hawley previously talked about his vision for the series and the tone that he’s going for. He’s looking to replicate the overall tone and experience of the Alien franchise, but it’s a different kind of story:
"The reality is, when you get right down to it, there are three science fiction brands -- there's Star Trek, Star Wars, and Alien -- and they each have a completely unique look. You would never confuse Star Trek for Alien, or Star Wars for Star Trek. I don't know that it's intimidating as much as it is a challenge that is an exciting challenge. When we started Fargo, I felt liberated because I thought, 'Well, this is such a terrible idea to try to make a show called Fargo that is adjacent to the movie, but it has nothing to do with the movie, that three people will watch and two of them will hate watch it.' On some level, it felt like I was liberated to give it my all and really go for it. There was no playing it safe.
"Since then, I was gonna make a Star Trek movie, and I have been talking with FX about Alien for many years. I've gained confidence in my process and this idea. All I do is go back to Fargo the movie, or Alien the movie, and I think, 'Well, what did I feel while I was watching it?' And then, I try to create those feelings in the audience while telling them a completely different story, but it's not really about, 'What are the elements from the movie that I need?,' or 'They had a car salesman, and I'll have an insurance salesman.'"
The story for the series “takes place before Ripley. It’s the first story that takes place in the Alien franchise on Earth.” It’s also been revealed that it will be set near “the end of this century we’re in — so 70-odd years from now.” It will also be the first Alien story set on Earth.
The project will blend “both the timeless horror of the first Alien film with the non-stop action of the second, it’s going to be a scary thrill ride that will blow people back in their seats.“
Hawley previously talked about the project, saying: “It's about how we're trapped between the primordial past and the artificial intelligence of our future, where both [are] trying to kill us. It's set on Earth of the future. At this moment, I describe that as Edison versus Westinghouse versus Tesla. Someone's going to monopolize electricity. We just don't know which one it is."
He went on to share: “It’s a story that’s set on Earth also. The alien stories are always trapped… Trapped in a prison, trapped in a spaceship. I thought it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of ‘What happens if you can’t contain it?’ are more immediate.”
The show also stars Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther (The End of the F*cking World) as the male lead, a soldier named CJ, with Samuel Blenkin (Black Mirror) as another main character named Boy Kavalier, a CEO. Additional cast members include Essie Davis (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries) as Dame Silvia, Timothy Olyphant, and Adarsh Gourav (The White Tiger) as Slightly.
Production on the series is set to resume in early 2024.