Alien: Earth-Season One Pt. One

• Created by Noah Hawley
• August 12, 2025 to Present
• FX / FX on Hulu
• Based on Alien by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett

Main Cast

• Wendy-Sydney Chandler
• Marcy (Wendy’s original human form) Hermit-Florence Bensberg
• Joe Hermit-Alex Lawther
• Dame Sylvia-Essie Davis
• Boy Kavalier-Samuel Blenkin
• Morrow-Babou Ceesay
• Slightly-Adarsh Gourav
• Aarush (Slightly’s original human form)-Rishi Kuppa
• Curly-Erana James
• Nibs-Lily Newmark
• Smee-Jonathan Ajayi
• Arthur Sylvia-David Rysdahl
• Siberian-Diêm Camille
• Rashidi-Moe Bar-El
• Atom Eins-Adrian Edmondson
• Kirsh-Timothy Olyphant

Recurring Cast

• Zaveri-Richa Moorjani
• Yutani-Sandra Yi Sencindiver

• Tootles-Kit Young
• Hoyt-Lloyd Everitt
• Rahim-Amir Boutrous
• Chibuzo-Karen Aldridge
• Shmuel-Michael Smiley
• Malachite-Jamie Bisping
• Teng-Andy Yu
• Bronski-Max Rinehart
• Petrovich-Enzo Cilenti
• Sullivan-Victoria Masoma
• Dinsdale-Tanapol Chuksrida

I approach Alien: Earth-Season One with hope having watched Romulus. While most legacy franchises over the years lose a step or two with each iteration, it appears that with Romulus the Alien universe was getting back on track.

Can the world of Alien work as a TV series? Will it stray far too much or stay true to that from which it sprang? All these questions and more will be answered in the next eight episodes.

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When the Weyland-Yutani vessel Maginot crashes, a group of children transferred into synthetic bodies sent to help come face-to-face with a xenomorph.

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Neverland

• Written and Directed by Noah Hawley
• August 12, 2025

As with any pilot episode this is set up though it’s set up with actual story. The various parts of what can be assumed to be the core of the series are introduced rather quickly but not at a breakneck piece. Neverland demonstrates the show is in no hurry to do anything. There is a little bit of Alien: Earth world building and Alien world addition that’s going on here. Cybernetics, genetic manipulation, and trans humanism are at play based on the opening text in man’s pursuit for in mortality.

I find it interesting that we get more corporations in addition to Weyland-Yutani with a fleshing out of the corporatocracy that rules Earth in the Alien future. Prodigy is at the center of the story here and run by Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) who looks too much like Timothée Chalamet. I was really distracted by that.

While there is a great deal of thought put to this, there is also stupidity to get/keep the plot rolling. One is Weyland-Yutani bringing multiple non-Terrestrial organisms from the far reaches of the galaxy they know nothing about back to Earth to work on. With a clear inclination towards weapons development on behalf of the company, one would think these dangerous animals might be best studied not on Earth. One containment breach ruins the company. Then again this needed to happen for the show to happen.

There is also the issue of the USCSS Maginot crashing. It is another thing that must happen for the series to go forward. It’s a rather controlled and slow crash. The visuals of devastation and destruction are epic, but it comes down relatively intact from orbit. It should at the minimum be a mangled mess since nobody was flying it. At most it should’ve hit like a big piece of space debris with a shockwave and heatwave that would cause devastation wiping away the city. And still be a mangled mess.

The creatures are more monster than bizarre otherworldly animal. There is a rather disturbing eyeball creature that body jacks a cat. It is the right amount of unnerving but is more Star Wars monster than Alien creature. The famous xenomorph is more grounded.

The cast of characters include a group of terminally ill children at the Neverland Research Facility run by Prodigy whose minds are transferred into synthetic bodies. Alien: Earth attempts to use Peter Pan (and the Disney-owned film) as a theme. The problem is that Peter Pan is about not growing up. It is about staying a child forever. At the minimum Wendy (Sydney Chandler) wants to be a little more mature if not an adult to go along with her new body.

When we are introduced to Wendy she is still called ‘Marcy’ (Florence Bensberg) and uncertain about everything. This is where it gets distinctly into trans humanism. The girl is a prototype and she becomes involved in the whole main story because her brother Joe (Alex Lawther) who thinks she’s dead is a first responder that she just coincidentally happens to see on TV.

On the one hand we get a good explanation of why these kids get into machine bodies. On the other we get no good reason why these machines with the psychology of children are dumped in a scene of devastation that their young minds have never encountered let alone imagined. Wendy’s assertion that they can handle it is enough?

The visuals of Neverland straddle the retro future of Alien and the modern aesthetics pioneered in the prequels. The opening vessel’s interior looks very much like the Nostromo but the cityscapes look very modern. Even the crew sitting around a table is a clear nod to Alien. The smoking both the film and this episode engages in ALWAYS bothered me. You have limited resources on a spaceship and are consuming them smoking? It is an easy way to communicate ‘working class’ but does pass a sniff test.

You got a good sense of each character. You’re not gonna confuse Wendy with Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant) and so on though being so early in the show names might escape you. Not a flaw but it does concern me because there are so many characters to deal with in just 8 episodes. How many are present just to die?

With an intriguing story and stunning visuals that combine the modern take on the future with the retro I think we are off to a very good start with Neverland.

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Mr. October

• Directed by Dana Gonzales
• Written by Noah Hawley
• August 12, 2025

Mr. October is more event oriented than it is focused on world or story building on the level of the previous episode. Here the xenomorph kills just to kill and cause chaos. This episode also engages in the cliché of the gun not working or a character missing/not taking shots when it would be a reflexively smart move. It certainly allows for some shock and grossness, but I would take one shot causing acid blood to spray and then you can engage in that cliché.

Rather than stretch out the story of Joe (Alex Lawther) not knowing that Wendy (Sydney Chandler) is his sister Marcy (Wendy’s original human form), the writers let him in on the secret rather quickly. Such a revelation should have impact for the viewer AND the characters. Not much on either end here. Joe is startled and gets personal confirmation with some ease.

The acting by Chandler is good BEFORE the reveal. She communicates excitement at seeing her brother again and restraint to keep a secret that is childlike. We should have seen more of that with Joe trying to understand what was going on. Demonstrate the characters’ intelligence or bond by Joe figuring it out.

I find Joe a little too physically slight to be sent into an emergency situation or even part of a security force. I don’t need to see somebody that is jacked but I would think he would need to be a little bit more physically tone than he is. Lawther’s acting is good, but it is hard to buy a man that looks like him doing that particular job.

Before watching this, I’d heard about the ‘Eat the Rich’ scene. Not nearly as big of a deal as I was led to believe. It’s a group of the wealthy clearly detached from reality. They are having a party with the one guy looking a touch like Fuckaire from Cheech & Chong’s The Corsican Brothers. His ultimate disposition is rather, well, icky.

The characters react like children would in a disaster which once again brings up the question of bringing machines with the minds of children into a situation where they might see horrors that would scar or break their young minds. I like the actors in general acting like children, even though they are adults. Not ridiculously childlike but like normal kids. There’s an authenticity and not a forced intellectual delineation.

We get a hint at the politics/corporate dynamics in play in a brief exchange between Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) and Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver). I am sure that is not the end of the story there but this episode is more about kills and jump scares. That means the eye creature seen in the last episode makes a return and we learn they poorly contained a creature that can take control of a body. 

Mr. October was not as meaty as Neverland but entertaining. Nothing yet to say we should throw in the towel.

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Alien: Earth has not been moving like a rocket but mostly taking its time. If the first two episodes are an indication we could see it alternate between heavy development followed by an episode that is more action oriented.

Sydney Chandler creates a genuine and believable character with a bit of complexity and nuance that elevates the material. This is contrasted by the equally good Timothy Olyphant in a very controlled performance. The guy that looks like Timothée Chalamet is a little too spastic and unfocused. He supposed to be a rich trillionaire, but he’s more a generic douchebag. I’m hoping for a little improvement with him. The cast though is talented.

I have high hopes for the show and expect good things to come in the future.