By akademiotoelektronik, 19/07/2022

Alien: we know more about the series (and it will annoy and disappoint fans)

The series from the Alien universe, directed by Noah Hawley, is becoming clearer and it may not necessarily appeal to fans.

After its surprise success in cinemas when it was released in 1979, Alien, the eighth passenger, the film directed by Ridley Scott, benefited from three sequels, two prequels as well as two crossovers with the universe from the Predator by John McTiernan. Despite all these adaptations and interpretations of the xenomorph, extended by countless writings, comics and video games, Scott's film has never had a completed extension as far as the serial format is concerned.

Well, that was the case until the takeover of 20th Century Fox by the world-eater Disney, who announced in December 2020 that an Alien series was in production and that it would be directed by Noah Hawley and produced by Ridley Scott himself. The creator of the Legion series, Fargo, and director of the film Lucy in the Sky has indeed been working on the project since its announcement and mentioned, during an interview for Esquire, some avenues of writing that he and his team are exploring for this first Alien series:

“It's set on Earth, in the future. Right now, I'm describing it as a clash between Edison, Westinghouse and Tesla. Someone is going to completely control the electricity. is...

In the movies, we have this Weyland-Yutani Corporation, which also develops artificial intelligence, but what if there were other corporations trying to get closer to the immortality of a different way, with cyborg-like enhancements or transhumanism? Which of these technologies would win?

Back to Earth!

Noah Hawley also touches on what Alien is about:

"Alien is a compelling story because it's not just a monster movie, it's about how we're trapped between our primal instincts and the artificial intelligence of the future, both of which are trying to kill... As Sigourney Weaver says in the second movie, 'I don't know which species is worse. But at least they wouldn't fuck together for the world.'

Even though the show was 60% of the best horror action in the universe, there's still 40% where we wonder, 'What's the story behind this?' Thematically, it must be interesting."

A monster saga about artificial intelligence?

Noah Hawley therefore evokes the context in which the story of this Alien series will take place and this one seems to take the counterpoint to everything that fans could expect from a series in this universe.

Indeed, where the stories of the first six films all took place in spaceships or on mysterious planets, this new adaptation will be closer to the unloved Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, setting its plot on Earth. The same is true of the technological and reflexive issues around the question of artificial intelligence that Hawley talks about, which seem to distance the story from the Alien threat, as Ridley Scott already did in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

A thought-provoking baby Xenomorph...

But even if the xenomorph seems to take a back seat, the creator of the series insists on the fact that Alien is as much an organic and emotional object as a theoretical work. Noah Hawley therefore promises that his series will also carry a thematic reflection on the human condition and the relationship to artificial intelligence, like the rest of the saga.

It will therefore not be, very fortunately, an adaptation made over the leg that seeks to play the fan service card, but potentially a series thought and reflected on a particular axis, even if it means disconcert. It remains to be seen whether the balance will be maintained between organic and theoretical, which was not necessarily the case with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant – which had divided the editorial staff when the films were released.

To be fixed, it will be necessary to wait for the release of the series which is progressing "surely but slowly" according to Hawley himself.