Can 'Fargo's' Noah Hawley 'Alien' Series On FX Bring Fans Back To The Now Sigourney-less Franchise?

By Adam Mock

(Photo : Getty Images) American actresses Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn on the set of the film Aliens II, directed by James Cameron. (Photo by Bob Penn/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)

Big news for fans of the Alien franchise. The upcoming FX series, simply titled Alien, is well underway and creator Noah Hawley of Fargo fame had some gems to share when he attended the Television Critics Association press tour recently. Joined by John Landgraf, FX Chief, the two unveiled some of their plans for the much-anticipated series.

What did know ahead of the TCA press tour was only what Landgraf was allowed to reveal when the show was announced back in 2020 when he spoke at Disney Investor Day,

"Alien takes place before Ripley. It's the first story in the Alien franchise that takes place on Earth. It takes place on our planet, near the end of this century we're currently in - 70 odd years from now. All I can tell you is Ripley won't be a part of it, and neither will any other characters - other than the alien itself. There are some big surprises in store for the audience."

Suffice it to say, both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant were both hit or miss with audiences, mostly because of the lack of Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) who was the through-line character we could sympathize with, root for, and have as our every-woman hero throughout the series. The newer versions always felt lacking in that department, given the new continuing character was a synthetic played by Michael Fassbender, whose lack of emotions didn't quite fit the bill as a relatable character.

Landgraf seems confident in their new venture, a prequel which he seems to think has fan appeal,

"I hope they will feel like it's faithful to the franchise they love but also a brave and original reinvention of that franchise. Setting it on Earth is really interesting. We have to think forward about the future of the planet in terms of the environment, governance, technology and create and design a version of the planet in the future ... Noah wants to do that in a distinctive and original way."

At this time there is no set release for Alien, but hopefully, maybe, a serialized treatment might be the shot in the arm fans need to get excited about the franchise again.