Alien Series Can Save The Franchise, Here’s How

The last big film we saw in the franchise was Alien: Covenant, which got relatively positive reviews from critics but was largely disliked by the fanbase compared to the original Alien and James Cameron’s follow-up, Aliens. The biggest problem with Covenant was that it continued to explain the origins of the Xenomorphs as its predecessor, Prometheus, did. Not only that, but the characters, who were a crew of scientists, continually made stupid decisions and ignored basic safety protocols on their mission.

Sure, Covenant had some cool Xenomorph action, and Michael Fassbender was fantastic as the android David, but the film wasn’t the return to form fans were hoping for. The upcoming Alien TV series has a chance to do right by the franchise. And it should do that by returning to the horror roots that made the original film such a hit in the first place.

The thing that made the original film so effective was the absolute alien nature of the Xenomorph. It was simply a terrifying force that our hero protagonist, Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, had to deal with. Speaking of Ripley, that’s another thing that the TV series should bring back – competent characters. 

Alien was a great film because we saw a competent and likable protagonist going up against an unknowable horror. Prometheus and Covenant were interesting and looked amazing visually, but we don’t need to know the in-depth details of the Xenomorphs. They’re much scarier if we don’t know anything about them.

It seems like Noah Hawley knows this because he has confirmed that the style of the film will be more in the vein of the original film rather than Prometheus and Covenant. The series will be ignoring Prometheus altogether. This seems like a great direction, especially because the series is a prequel and gives complete creative freedom for a fresh start.

The Alien TV series takes place three decades before the 1979 film, so we’ll see characters who have no idea what they’re dealing with. This is the perfect way to set up an Alien project. It also gives Hawley a chance to delve into the horror aspects of the franchise.

The video game Alien: Isolation was the most recent successful project from the franchise that was beloved by fans. That game fully leaned into horror and made the player gradually put together the tools to fight back against the Xenomorph. If the TV series can follow suit, we could be in for a great time.

We won’t have to wait much longer to see if Noah Hawley can pull this off. The Alien TV series is expected to drop in the first half of 2025. In the meantime, we can also look forward to the new film Romulus, which drops on August 14.