Initially, it was a little confusing as to when the upcoming FX series “Alien: Earth” would take place in the franchise’s timeline.
The series hails from “Fargo” and “Legion” creator Noah Hawley. In it, a mysterious space vessel crash-lands on Earth. A young woman and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat.
Early reports suggested it would take place on or around the same time as “Prometheus,” which is set in the Earth year of 2093. As more information came to light, it was revealed that the show unfolds in the year 2120 – approximately two years before the events of Ridley Scott’s original 1979 “Alien” film.
Now, as part of a new in-depth profile in Vanity Fair, Hawley reveals that a precise crossover point of his series with the original film has yet to be determined. One specific element of the film, however, will get partly explained by the series – namely how Weyland-Yutani re-directed the Nostromo to LV-426. Of a crossover, Hawley says:
“I don’t yet know, in terms of the series from beginning to end, how much time is going to pass or where we’re going to end up, but I do know that at a certain point, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation is going to divert the Nostromo to that planet…We have the opportunity to maybe see what was happening on the other side of that phone call.”
It’s not clear if any elements of Scott’s scrapped “Alien: Awakening” project, which would’ve bridged ‘Covenant’ and the original “Alien,” are being used by Hawley and crew.
“Alien: Earth” is set to debut on Hulu and Disney+ on August 12th.
