7 Reasons to Watch Alien: Earth

The first-ever Alien TV series brings Xenomorphs to Earth in Noah Hawley's groundbreaking sci-fi horror series, featuring practical effects and corporate dystopian themes.

7 Reasons to Watch Alien: Earth | LIST-EM. Article Image by 'FX Networks'

Boy, do I have a list for you! Alien: Earth just dropped on FX and Hulu, and honestly, I'm completely blown away by what Noah Hawley has accomplished here. This isn't just another franchise cash-grab – it's a legitimate masterpiece that deserves your attention.​

As someone who's been following the Alien franchise since day one, I was pretty skeptical about a TV adaptation. But after binge-watching all eight episodes, I can confidently say this series is something you should definitely check out. Here's why this show is absolutely worth your time:

01 IT'S THE FIRST ALIEN TV SERIES EVER MADE

Let me be real with you – this is historic stuff right here. After decades of movies, we're finally getting an Alien TV series, and damn, it was worth the wait. Noah Hawley took on the impossible task of adapting Ridley Scott's legendary franchise for television, and he absolutely nailed it.​

What makes this even more special is that it's not trying to copy the movies. Hawley understood that "a television show and a two-hour survival story are different", so he created something that feels authentically Alien while being completely its own thing. The result is a modern sci-fi myth that's both familiar and refreshingly new.

02 NOAH HAWLEY'S GENIUS VISION BEHIND THE CAMERA

Alright, if you've seen Fargo or Legion, you already know Noah Hawley is a storytelling genius. The man has won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Peabody Awards, and he brings all that expertise to the Alien universe. His ability to balance character-driven drama with mind-bending concepts is exactly what this franchise needed.​

Hawley's approach is pretty brilliant – he took the monsters out of the story first to figure out what the actual narrative would be about. That's why Alien: Earth works so well as both a monster show and a deep exploration of humanity, corporate greed, and what it means to be human.

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03 RIDLEY SCOTT'S EXECUTIVE PRODUCER INVOLVEMENT

Here's something that should definitely give you confidence in this series – Ridley Scott himself is executive producing. The original Alien director is directly involved in bringing this vision to life, which means we're getting that authentic franchise DNA.

Scott's involvement ensures that Alien: Earth stays true to the retrofuturistic aesthetic and class warfare themes that made the original so compelling. Having the franchise's creator blessing this adaptation is pretty reassuring, and you can feel his influence throughout the series.

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04 MIND-BLOWING PRACTICAL EFFECTS BY WETA WORKSHOP

Oh man, the practical effects in this show are absolutely superb. Weta Workshop – the same studio behind Lord of the Rings – created fully practical Xenomorphs with no CGI suits. They built a puppet called "Steve" that's fully controllable with remote controls and even has plumbing for continuous drool.​

The attention to detail is incredible. They have a dedicated team just for perfecting Xenomorph drool consistency. The practical approach makes these creatures feel genuinely terrifying in a way that CGI just can't match. As Hawley said, he wanted to avoid the Xenomorph looking "like a guy in a suit".

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05 STUNNING CAST LED BY SYDNEY CHANDLER AND TIMOTHY OLYPHANT

The performances in this series are really something special. Sydney Chandler absolutely kills it as Wendy, the first human-synthetic hybrid. She brings this perfect balance of childlike wonder and adult determination that makes the character completely compelling.​

Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh the synthetic is phenomenal. The man bleached his hair for the role and completely disappears into this robotic mentor character. Having stars like Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, and Essie Davis rounds out an ensemble cast that delivers top-notch performances across the board.

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06 REVOLUTIONARY DYSTOPIAN WORLD-BUILDING

The world of Alien: Earth is absolutely breathtaking to explore. Set in 2120, Earth is controlled by five mega-corporations: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic, and Threshold. Each corporation owns different continents and pushes humanity toward different paths to immortality.​

The series explores cyborgs, synthetics, and hybrids – all different approaches to transcending human mortality. This corporate dystopia feels eerily relevant to our current world, making the sci-fi concepts hit even harder. The production design creates this cyberpunk metropolis that's both gorgeous and terrifying.

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07 XENOMORPHS ON EARTH FOR THE FIRST TIME

This is the big one – we're finally seeing Xenomorphs loose on Earth. After decades of space-based horror, watching these creatures terrorize our home planet creates this whole new level of dread. The series is set just two years before the original Alien film, so we're seeing how humanity first encounters these monsters.​

The crashed Weyland-Yutani ship brings multiple alien species to Earth, not just Xenomorphs. Weta Workshop created new creatures like the Orchid and other horrifying life forms that feel authentically part of this universe. Seeing familiar Earth environments invaded by alien horrors is absolutely chilling.
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Alien: Earth is streaming now on FX and Hulu, and honestly, it's probably the best sci-fi horror series we've gotten in years. With eight episodes of pure terror and amazing storytelling, this is definitely something you should experience.​

What do you think? Let me know down below!

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