The Alien franchise has been around for 46 years, so it’s honestly shocking that Alien: Earth is its first leap to the small screen.
We’ve had sequels, prequels, and spinoffs — some brilliant, some we’d rather yeet into space — but never a TV series.
As someone who’s devoured the big-screen nightmares and somehow survived one of the most terrifying video games ever made, Alien: Isolation, I went into the premiere cautiously.
The early films were cinematic perfection; the more recent installments have been… let’s say uneven. A TV version could easily have been bargain-bin horror with corporate logos slapped on.
Thankfully, the two-episode Alien: Earth premiere — set two years before the 1979 original — feels like it crawled straight out of the franchise’s golden era.
It’s tense, claustrophobic, and steeped in corporate corruption. The xenomorphs are as nasty as ever, but what caught me off guard was the heart.
I did not expect to finish Alien: Earth thinking, “Wow, that was moving,” but here we are, and we can thank Wendy for that.
Sydney Chandler is electric as Wendy, a young girl who escaped a death sentence when her human consciousness was transferred into a synthetic body.
Alien: Earth Has a Lot of Heart
In the wrong hands, this could’ve been pure gimmick. Here, it’s poignant. Wendy still radiates warmth and wit, even in a machine body, but she’s now armed with a toolkit of abilities that make her both a marvel and a massive liability.
Enter Boy Kavalier, who seems okay with letting Wendy roam — for now. But make no mistake: the Prodigy Corporation only tolerates “independent” assets until they start making headlines for the wrong reasons.
And in this universe, “wrong reasons” could mean anything from a PR mishap to unleashing a new apex predator on Earth.
Wendy is not the compliant product Boy, Kirsh, or Dame Silvia might want her to be. She’s fiercely protective of her history and refuses to treat her human life as a deleted file.
That defiance comes to a head when she reunites with her brother CJ and immediately drops the truth on him — orders be damned.
It’s a great moment that underlines how much CJ means to her, but it also paints a target on her back. In Boy’s world, sentiment is a glitch to be patched, not a feature to be celebrated.
Alex Lawther Needs to Stick Around
CJ, played by Alex Lawther, is instantly likable, which is why it stings that he’s already tangoed with a xenomorph by the end of Alien: Earth Season 1 Episode 2.
Will that be the last we see of him? Maybe not. In this franchise, people can switch bodies like changing outfits, but Lawther’s grounded, human performance would be a loss if the show doesn’t find a way to keep him around.
Still, the writing’s on the wall for the siblings. Wendy is far too valuable to Prodigy, and Earth in 2120 is far too dangerous for family dinners. The more they cling to each other, the more inevitable their separation feels.
Plot-wise, Alien: Earth doesn’t waste time. An alien ship crash-lands on Earth — yes, that’s been done before — but here, the execution is relentless.
There’s no coy teasing of the threat. The stakes are immediate, the danger feels real, and the corporate vultures are circling before the smoke clears.
Boy Kavalier might be the most interesting human wildcard the franchise has had in years. He’s brilliant, dangerously curious, and clearly lonely.
His conversation with Dame Silvia hints at why he surrounds himself with prodigy-level intellects — or manufactures them.
Boy Kavalier Has a Lot of Power
His pet project of turning terminally ill children into enhanced synthetics is equal parts heartbreaking and skin-crawling. Is it compassion? Is it ego? Or is it just another way to stockpile power?
Then there’s the delicious corporate chess game brewing between Prodigy and Yutani. If Boy discovers exactly what’s landed on Earth, there’s zero chance he’ll quietly hand it over.
Alien has always excelled at reminding us that human greed is just as deadly as a xenomorph’s second mouth, and Alien: Earth keeps that theme alive and kicking. There’s so much at stake, and the series seems destined to be a great big game of corporate chess with a supernatural backdrop.
The most impressive part? This doesn’t feel like TV. The production design, the soundscape, the way the camera lingers in tight spaces until you’re ready to claw your way out — it’s pure cinematic tension.
You could stitch these first two episodes together, slap them on a big screen, and no one would blink. FX has done a masterful job here.
If the next six episodes can maintain this level of suspense, sharp character work, and corporate nastiness, Alien: Earth won’t just be a good TV spinoff. It could be the best thing to happen to the franchise.
What are your thoughts on the first two episodes, TV Fanatics?
Are you as sold as I am? What’s your take on the cargo ship filled with terrifying otherworldly species and the inevitable power struggle to come over it?
Do you think Boy Kavalier is a villain, or do you think he’s genuinely tired of having people dim his sunny outlook with low-effort sentiments?
What do you anticipate will happen now that Wendy has royally broken protocol in the name of saving her brother? Let’s break it all down in the comments section.
Watch Alien: Earth Online
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