The filmmaker hoping to ignite the Alien franchise, Noah Hawley, has now provided some intriguing details regarding his upcoming television series. With the 20th Century Fox franchise now under the Disney umbrella, Hawley has revealed to Esquire that his Alien FX series will take the action to Earth for the first time, centering on advancements in artificial intelligence and the development of cyborgs.
“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 … 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?”
While fans of both Alien and Aliens (we know there are of course fans of Alien3 and Alien: Resurrection, but they are at the very least divisive) will be disappointed to learn of the large scale of the series as opposed to the claustrophobic terror, it certainly sounds like Noah Hawley has found a logical way back into the story that could also prove to be highly interesting in its own right.
For those who may be concerned by Hawley’s exploration of AI and cyborgs, with many no doubt suffering from flashbacks to the likes of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, the director goes on to explain his understanding of the franchise and why he has chosen this approach.
“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 trying to kill us. As Sigourney Weaver said in that second movie, ‘I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t [frick] 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.”
Noah Hawley certainly has a deep understanding of the Alien franchise and has clearly put a lot of thought into how to best bring the world of the Xenomorph back to the glorious heights of old.
Announced during the 2020 Disney’s Investor Day presentation, the Alien television series is being developed by FX for release on Hulu. Noah Harley, who is best known for the series Legion and Fargo, has been on board since the beginning and has since advised fans to remain patient, as it’s going to take a little while. “It’s going great,” he assured. “It’s going slowly, unfortunately, given the scale of it.” Despite this, recent reports have suggested that the Alien series is set to begin filming in March 2022.
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