Some updates on the upcoming “Alien” TV series from “Fargo” creator Noah Hawley as well as the highly anticipated film “Alien: Romulus” from director Fede Alvarez…
The “Alien” universe will expand even further with a new TV series headed to FX as well as an upcoming film in the franchise.
First up, Noah Hawley — the creative mind behind the “Fargo” TV series — is developing his own take on the “Alien” franchise for FX with a major cast member just added.
Timothy Olyphant — best known for his roles on “Justified” as well as “The Mandalorian” — has been cast in the upcoming “Alien” series. While details about his character were not revealed, Deadline reported that Olyphant is expected to play Kirsh — “a synth who acts as a mentor and trainer for [lead star Sydney Chandler’s] Wendy who is a hybrid, a meta-human who has the brain and consciousness of a child but the body of an adult.”
Hawley’s take on the “Alien” franchise actually happens as a prequel on Earth roughly 70 years in the future but long before Ripley and her doomed shipmates land on LV-426 and run into the deadly Xenomorphs.
The cast for the “Alien” series also includes Alex Lawther as a soldier named CJ, Samuel Blenkin as Boy Kavalier, a CEO, as well as Essie Davis as Dame Silvia, Adarsh Gourav as Slightly and Kit Young as Tootles.
Production on the new “Alien” series is expected to start again in early 2024 after a pause in filming due to the actor and writers’ strikes.
Meanwhile, “Evil Dead” director Fede Alvarez is preparing to unleash his own “Alien” film into the world with star Cailee Spaeny recently revealing the timeline for the new movie titled “Alien: Romulus.”
“It’s supposed to slot in between the first movie and the second movie,” Spaeny told Variety “They brought the same team from ‘Aliens,’ the James Cameron film. The same people who built those xenomorphs actually came on and built ours. So getting to see the original design with the original people who have been working on these films for 45-plus years and has been so much of their life has been really incredible.”
The original “Alien” from 1979 saw the commercial spaceship Nostromo answer a distress call from an alien ship on a desolate planet. After landing there, one of the crew members is attacked by a creature previously gestating inside an egg and it lays an embryo inside of him that later bursts out of his chest revealing the first look at the Xenomorph.
The creature tears its way through the entire crew until only Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) manages to escape after blowing the Xenomorph through the airlock door, sending it out to die in the middle of space.
The sequel “Aliens” takes place 57 years later when Ripley’s escape pod is finally discovered and she’s drawn back into service after discovering that communications with the colonists now living on that desolate planet LV-426 have been cut off. She goes with a squad of Marines to investigate and they soon discover the Xenomorphs have taken over.
Much like Hawley’s TV series, Alvarez’s plans for “Alien: Romulus” have not been revealed so it’s tough to say how this film will tie back to the original story, especially with this movie taking place between “Alien” and “Aliens.”
“Alien: Romulus” is set to land in theaters on August 16, 2024.
