Noah Hawley's ALIEN Series Is Slowly Moving Forward; It's Described as "Edison versus Westinghouse versus Tesla"
Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion) has offered another update on his upcoming Alien series, which is coming to Hulu. I’m actually excited about this series. I think it’s an interesting direction for the franchise. While I would have much rather seen Neill Blomkamp’s scrapped Alien 5 movie, this show is sure to fill the Alien void.
During a recent interview with Esquire, Hawley said that while the development is going slowly, it’s going great. This is a big world-building exercise for Hawley, but I have confidence that he’s going to pull off something great. He shared:
"It's going great. It's going slowly, unfortunately, given the scale of it. I've made a certain business out of reinvention. Alien is a fascinating story because it's not just a monster movie; 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."
I like that description he gives. I’ve always been fascinated with corporate warfare and the fact that this series is going to involve that is super interesting to me. Hawley also went on to say:
"In the movies, we have this Weyland-Yutani Corporation, which is clearly also developing artificial intelligence — but what if there are other companies trying to look at immortality in a different way, with cyborg enhancements or transhuman downloads? Which of those technologies is going to win? It's ultimately a classic science fiction question: does humanity deserve to survive? As Sigourney Weaver said in that second movie, 'I don't know which species is worse. At least they don't fuck each other over for a percentage.' Even if the show was 60% of the best horror action on the planet, there's still 40% where we have to ask, "What are we talking about it, beneath it all?" Thematically, it has to be interesting. It's humbling to get to play with the iconography of this world."
The story is said to the set “not too far into our future, it’s the first Alien set on Earth—and by blending 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.“
When previously talking about the series Hawley said, “It’s a story that’s set on Earth also. The alien stories are always trapped… Trapped in a prison, trapped in a space ship. 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.”
I like what I’ve been hearing about this series, I like the direction Hawley is taking it, and it will most likely premiere sometime in 2023 on FX.