The first two episodes of Noah Hawley's Alien: Earth are now streaming on Disney+, and a pair of new trailers have been released online.
The first pays homage to Ridley Scott's classic, while the second teases what's to come during the rest of the season.
Spoilers follow.
In addition to introducing two new artificial lifeforms to the Alien universe (Cyborgs and synthetic/human Hybrids), Alien: Earth features the debut of at least three new extraterrestrial threats, and based on what we see in the first two episodes, they're going to cause just as many problems for the show's protagonists as the Xenomorphs.
Episode 2 concludes on a cliffhanger, as Wendy rushes to rescue her brother CJ from the clutches of a particularly large and formidable Xeno. While it's probably not a major surprise, the trailer shows that CJ survives, returning to Prodigy City with the crew. Meanwhile, we see that Kirsh and his scientists will soon begin to study the new species of alien (sure to end well).
The jury is out on whether Kirsh can be trusted. While he does appear to care (to some extent, at least) about the Hybrids under his care, the vibes he's putting out so far seem more Ash than Bishop.
During a new interview with THR, Hawley explained why he felt it was necessary to introduce some new alien species.
“My job in reinventing these classic films is to figure out, what are the series of feelings that the original makes me feel? And then, how do I make you feel those same feelings? The reality is I cannot make you feel the life cycle of this creature for the first time again because you know it so well, this evolution that it’s really four monsters and one. And it’s a parasite. Every step of the way is worse than the last.”
“The only way to make you feel that terrible discovery is to add new creatures,” he added. “You don’t know how they reproduce or what they eat. So you get this dread that comes every time they’re on screen where you’re like, ‘I know something’s going to happen. I don’t know what it’s going to be.’ And then when it happens, it’s worse than you could have imagined.”
Check out the new trailers below, and let us know what you made of the first two episodes in the comments section.
“When the mysterious deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot crash-lands on Earth, “Wendy” (Sydney Chandler) and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat.”
“In the year 2120, the Earth is governed by five corporations: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic and Threshold. In this Corporate Era, cyborgs (humans with both biological and artificial parts) and synthetics (humanoid robots with artificial intelligence) exist alongside humans. But the game is changed when the wunderkind Founder and CEO of Prodigy Corporation unlocks a new technological advancement: hybrids (humanoid robots infused with human consciousness). The first hybrid prototype named “Wendy” marks a new dawn in the race for immortality. After Weyland-Yutani’s spaceship collides into Prodigy City, “Wendy” and the other hybrids encounter mysterious life forms more terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined.”
Alien: Earth stars Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Timothy Olyphant, Essie Davis, Samuel Blenkin, Babou Ceesay, David Rysdahl, Adrian Edmondson, Adarsh Gourav, Jonathan Ajayi, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Diem Camille, and Moe Bar-El.
The show's supporting cast includes Richa Moorjani, Karen Aldridge, Andy Yu, Enzo Cilenti, Max Rinehart, Amir Boutrous, Victoria Masoma, Tom Moya, Michael Smiley, Jamie Bisping and Tanapol Chuksrida.