Announced at the tail end of last year, Disney is working on the first-ever television series set within the Alien universe for FX/Hulu, with Noah Hawley (“Legion,” “Fargo”) developing.
What we know so far, which isn’t very much at all, is that the series will be set on Earth. FX had teased, “Expect a scary thrill ride set not too far in the future here on Earth.”
Last we heard, Ridley Scott is expected to be on board as producer, which is interesting because Scott just made comments this week that don’t quite suggest he’s on board with this whole idea. Chatting with UK’s Independent, Scott – who never did get to finish his planned trilogy of Alien prequel films – offered up a simple proclamation when asked about the series.
“It’ll never be as good as the first one,” Scott told the outlet. “That’s what I’ll say.”
It’s likely that Scott’s comments here were more playful than anything else, and let’s be honest, he’s not wrong. It’s hard to imagine anything Alien-related ever being as good as Ridley Scott’s original classic, and this is clearly something Scott realized when even he decided to go back to that well. After all, Prometheus took the franchise in a *far* different direction.
As for Alien: Covenant, that movie brought back the Xenomorphs for a much more traditional Alien movie, but even still it was clear that Scott had way more on his mind than recapturing past glories. His eventual plan was for the prequel movies to dovetail right into the back end of the original Alien, a plan that sadly may never come to fruition as he had hoped.
Perhaps Scott is still a little bummed about that. Can you blame him?
Expect to wait until 2023 for the return of the Alien franchise.
