Alien: Earth Stars Promise 'Drooling, Snarling' Xenomorphs, Say Series Is 'Tense' And 'Not Just Jump Scares'
If you like your xenomorphs clocking in at eight feet tall and both "drooling" and "snarling," FX and Hulu's Alien: Earth series has you covered.
Announced more than four years ago and hailing from Noah Hawley (of FX's Fargo and Legion), Alien: Earth is set in 2120 when five corporations — Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic and Threshold — wield the power of nations.
In this Corporate Era, cyborgs (humans with both biological and artificial parts) and synthetics (humanoid robots operated by A.I.) exist alongside humans. But the game is changed when the founder of Prodigy unlocks a new advancement: hybrids (humanoid robots infused with human consciousness). The prototype hybrid is dubbed "Wendy" and played by Sydney Chandler (Sugar).
When a Weyland-Yutani spaceship crashes into Prodigy City, Wendy and other hybrids encounter mysterious life forms "more terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined."
The cast also includes Timothy Olyphant (Justified) as Kirsh, Wendy's synth mentor/trainer, and Babou Ceesay (Into the Badlands) as Morrow, a good ol' fashioned cyborg — or as he puts it in the TVLine video above, "an iPhone 1 in an iPhone 20 world."
Also in the Disney Upfront red carpet video above, Chandler shares an irony-filled anecdote about trekking to the Fargo set in Calgary to audition for Hawley, when it turns out they're practically neighbors back in Texas. She and Ceesay then tell me about the guy who plays the "drooling, snarling" xenomorph that Wendy et al bump up against.
Even though all make-believe, "It's scary being chased by an alien, it does get to you!" avows Chandler. Ceesay in turn reports that he has seen a few episodes already, "and there were moments where I was breathing a little shallower, waiting for that [scary] moment to hit."
All told, Alien: Earth, he says, is "tense, it's not just jump scares."
Alien: Earth premieres Tuesday, Aug. 12, with the first two episodes available to stream on Hulu at 8 pm ET and airing on FX at 8/7c. The eight-episode season will continue with weekly drops each Tuesday on Hulu at 8 pm ET and on FX at 8/7c.
The cast also includes Alex Lawther (The End of the F***ing World), Essie Davis (Faraway Downs), David Rysdahl (Fargo Season 5), Samuel Blenkin (Mary & George), Adarsh Gourav (Hostel Daze), Jonathan Ajayi (Noughts + Crosses), Erana James (The Wilds), Lily Newmark (A Gentleman in Moscow), Diêm Camille (Alex Rider) and Adrian Edmondson (EastEnders).
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