- 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 (formerly Marcy)-Sydney Chandler
- Joe Hermit-Alex Lawther
- Dame Sylvia-Essie Davis
- Boy Kavalier-Samuel Blenkin
- Morrow-Babou Ceesay
- Slightly (formerly known as Aarush Singh)-Adarsh Gourav
- 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/Guest Cast
- Yutani-Sandra Yi Sencindiver
- Tootles/Isaac-Kit Young
- Zoya Zaveri-Richa Moorjani
- Hoyt-Lloyd Everitt
- Anant-Tayme Thapthimthong
- Rahim-Amir Boutrous
- Chibuzo-Karen Aldridge
- Shmuel-Michael Smiley
- Malachite-Jamie Bisping
- Teng-Andy Yu
- Bronski-Max Rinehart
- Petrovich-Enzo Cilenti
- Clem-Tom Moya
- Sullivan-Victoria Masoma
- Dinsdale-Tanapol Chuksrida
So here we are. The last two.
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With Weyland-Yutani forces closing in, the hybrids make their movie as a xenomorph runs loose.
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Emergence
- Directed by Dana Gonzales
- Written by Noah Hawley and Maria Melnik
- September 16, 2025
Here we are at the next to last episode of Season One. My hopes are not strong.
Slightly (Adarsh Gourav) has finally done the bidding of Morrow (Babou Ceesay) and infected someone. In Alien there was a relatively long gestation time but in Alien: Earth it leans more towards a near supernatural speed. I get it is a show with only one more episode but either imply some time passing or maybe not have a flashback episode that forces you to speed things up so the end can happen in the allotted time.
Because of a warp speed gestation Slightly and his friend Smee (Jonathan Ajayi) cannot get the infected Arthur (David Rysdahl) to Morrow in time. Instead they drag his corpse. They may be kids but they are not dumb. What good did they think that would do? Make it make sense!
This all connects to Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant) who from the looks of it now was trying to outsmart Morrow and capture him on the island from the start. So much had to go right for that to happen. He may be an android capable of complex calculations and planning but this exceeds plausibility.
Wendy (Sydney Chandler) has gone from pining for her brother and seeking him out (with the implication of wanting to be a family again) to standing against his every effort. Hermit (Alex Lawther) is trying to get her off the island and she cares more about her fellow androids or the xenomorphs than escaping. When did this happen? When did she become so pro xenomorph?
Once the xenomorphs were monsters with two distinct goals: killing and reproduction. Very single-minded threats. Here Wendy can not only talk to and command them but they are practically her pets readily taking commands like a trained dog. But it does keep the story moving which looks to be more important than being smart.
Wendy and Hermit along with the conveniently unstable Nibs (Lily Newmark) that Wendy just would not leave without make their way to a boat but are cut off by a presumably experienced Prodigy security team. You would think that they would be smart enough to stay out of reach of somebody but one boob is close to Nibs who reaches out and crushes his jaw. Chaos reigns until Hermit grabs a super taser to subdue the homicidal Nibs prompting Wendy to yell at him like it is all his fault.
Standing close makes no sense but is often done in film and television because it is more accommodating to filming. You never think too much about it because nothing that makes you question this lack of common sense happens but when it does-like here-you get taken out of the story. If the series was generally acting more intelligently at this point I might put it aside but so much dumb has been happening to fit this season into eight episodes.
Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) has become fascinated with the Ocellus and decides it is best to take this thing he knows nothing about and has been treating like a toy and put it into a person. How did this guy get to run a trillion dollar company? He has no focus and is just douchebag.
Emergence is justifiably about setting up the climax but does so through character stupidity and bad contrivance.
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The Real Monsters
- Directed by Dana Gonzales
- Written by Noah Hawley and Migizi Pensoneau
- September 23, 2025
This is how Season One of Alien: Earth ends?!
Weyland-Yutani has effectively cut off the island from the outside world by jamming signals. Everybody’s been evacuated other than the Prodigy security team that keeps getting killed. The question I have is what staff was evacuated? I honestly can’t think of background characters just milling around doing stuff that I’ve seen beyond security personnel. Nobody called to another room or got an object from an extra that I remember.
Just dropped in is that Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) has ADHD and has not been taking his meds. It is like somebody looked back and realized they needed to cover their butts narratively over the decline of the character into an annoying caracture from a company head to someone incapable of handling a drive-thru.
The hybrids are revealed to be able to hack everything on the island since they are on the network. They have known this all along based on dialogue but only use it now for plot reasons. Security no matter the corporate entity has always been questionable in this to not hinder the story but giving kids in advanced android bodies that kind of access is a serious oversight. Then again so is them having no off switch of any kind in case of malfunction as shown a few episodes back with Nibs (Lily Newmark) and once again here with all the hybrids.
Everything being on the network and the ease of being hacked was very convenient. I admit to knowing very little about computers or wi-fi but the way it was handled here sounded like someone with the same knowledge as me wrote the script. It also stretches credibility that a secure facility has such lax wi-fi security.
We have a security team roaming the island looking for the adult xenomorph. Presumably they are familiar with procedures and security operations other than those of a supersecret variety. In this episode they willingly enter an elevator that nobody called for and they believe the announcement that it is going to self-destruct. Not only why did they go in but what did they believe it?
You’re thinking why would a elevator have a self-destruct? How does that make sense? I would buy confusion but not belief. Then again I am left believing by this episode director Dana Gonzales and writers Noah Hawley and Migizi Pensoneau are trying to bombard the viewer with stupidity so they cannot think while viewing.
Things happen or information is just plopped down with no development. Morrow (Babou Ceesay) and Hermit (Alex Lawther) escape confinement by the hybrids rather easily. Then it is right back in for the closing credits. It never advanced the story.
It’s really irritating me that Wendy (Sydney Chandler) now has complete control of the xenomorphs. She went from thinking they could talk to having an understanding of their language so complex she could probably get them to balance a ball on their forehead while riding a unicycle. Her skill turned them from uncontrollable killing machines to trained guard dogs.
The episode itself just ends. I keep hearing The Real Monsters referred to as having a cliffhanger ending but I don’t know if it quite qualifies that. Narratively this is the lead up to the final episode and not the final episode of the season. I wasn’t left wanting more. I was left feeling “That’s it?” It just stopped. Nothing resolved. No real conclusions. Not all threads need wrapped but nothing was wrapped.
Are we supposed to feel sympathy for the hybrids now after they engaged in murder? Are the xenomorphs poor and oppressed innocents who have simply been fighting back? Why did Wendy just so casually toss her brother who she was first wanting to reunite with aside? Is this an ending to say there are no good guys in this even though the children were victimized?
What should’ve been exciting or satisfying or both was underwhelming. The Real Monsters was a sad ending to a show that started with so much promise
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I thought Alien: Earth started quite well. A few flaws but given the strength of the initial episodes I easily overlooked them, but by the midpoint of the season it was engaging in stupid. One bit of idiocy after another until they were occurring in such rapid succession that the viewer did not have time to think. JJ Abrams did it with his Star Trek and Star Wars movies and Noah Hawley did it here.
In the first two films we had smartly written characters making decisions that were intelligent based on what was presented. Alien: Earth started dipping its toes in that but decided that having its cast make illogical decisions or take blatantly stupid actions was so much better. Smart is good. It is hard to write but makes what you are doing memorable. In this show it was like even the experienced characters could not reference the past to make a good move.
One of the most terrifying creatures in all of science fiction was turned into a well-trained Doberman because an android was suddenly able to figure out how to talk to it and it listened quite easily. Why undermine the titular threat?
We have what should’ve been the villain Boy Kavalier going from possibly being a threat to being a douchebag and just annoying. Modern film and television equates ‘jerk’ with ‘threatening’. A jerk is not threatening unless you live in an emotional bubble. Rude and inconsiderate does not make evil.
This did not tell a complete or mostly complete or even a smart story. It started with concepts of transhumanism and unbridled corporate power and moved on to what, well, I do not know. Maybe eight episodes was not enough or Hawley could not develop his ideas at all.
Romulus was a step in the right direction and this promised to be another step in the right direction for the Alien universe. In the end Alien: Earth was a disappointment. It engaged in far too much plot contrivance and poor decision making by the characters and bombarded you with one bit of stupidity. Not The Acolyte bad but not Andor good.
Warren Watched A Movie 