As a general rule of thumb, movie and TV franchises decay the longer they exist, losing momentum as the spinoffs and sequels keep coming. Some of the most long-tenured and iconic sci-fi franchises have, however, lasted long enough to see their fortunes eventually turn back around.
It happened with Star Wars, which bounced back from prequel malaise to garner widespread acclaim for The Force Awakens, Rogue One, Andor, and, er, the prequels. Star Trek recovered from Nemesis and Enterprise backlash with enthusiastic responses to the 2009 reboot, Strange New Worlds, and, oddly, Enterprise. And after Alien collapsed with its third and fourth movies, it was rejuvenated in the 2020s by Alien: Romulus, Alien: Earth, and in yet another stark reappraisal over time, Alien 3.
There are redeeming qualities to be found in Alien 3, Prometheus, and Alien: Covenant, but it was really Fede Álvarez’s 2024 effort, Alien: Romulus, that reestablished the franchise as peak science fiction. Bringing back the sense of terror and isolation that had been missing since Ridley Scott’s original, Álvarez managed to weave in moments of Aliens‘ all-out action, and even incorporated elements of Prometheus canon. Alien: Romulus was a refreshing blend of new and old that respected the franchise it belonged to without pandering to formula or trying too hard to be edgy.
Alien: Romulus Is Very Good, But Alien: Earth Is Better
That is not the approach taken by Noah Hawley in Hulu’s Alien: Earth TV series. If Álvarez was bringing the core ingredients of Alien into a modern context, Hawley cuts open the Alien franchise, removes its internal organs, and puts them back in a different order. Both approaches are worthwhile, and both approaches have yielded success, but as great as Alien: Romulus might be, it doesn’t quite hit the same heights as Alien: Earth.
Perhaps the biggest difference is that, in order to rediscover the soul of Alien, the TV series steps back and reexamines the IP’s very foundations. Ridley Scott’s 1979 movie wowed audiences because no one had ever seen a xenomorph before. James Cameron’s sequel wowed audiences because no one had ever seen a whole bunch of xenomorphs before. There aren’t many places to go after that, which is one reason subsequent entries struggled to keep up.
In order to restore the sense of fear and wonder that the very first xenomorph evoked, Alien: Earth realizes that xenomorphs alone simply won’t cut it, so introduces a slew of other creatures that are just as otherworldly and fascinating. It’s entirely valid to say that Alien: Earth doesn’t really need to be an Alien show, but there is a direct parallel between audience reaction to the creepy eye monster in 2025 and reaction to the Nostromo’s unwanted passenger back in 1979.
Alien: Earth Benefits From Being A TV Series
Back in 1979, the concept of turning Alien into a TV series would have prompted visions of a knock-off Star Trek destined to age like warm milk. Fast-forward 45 years, and the gap between movie and TV production values is almost negligible. Like many high-profile streaming shows, Alien: Earth is effectively a long movie broken up into parts, and that allows it to do almost everything Alien: Romulus can, but in far greater detail.
That becomes especially obvious when looking at how each release handles its androids. Alien: Romulus and Alien: Earth both comment on the value of synthetic life, and while Andy’s arc in Romulus is well-constructed and touching, it’s merely one moving part in a larger 2-hour wheel. Alien: Earth is, predictably, able to achieve far more with an entire ensemble of hybrids working alongside Timothy Olyphant’s artificial babysitter.
The TV series has time to capture the complexities and nuances of that conversation, and capture them it most certainly does. The comparison is almost unfair on Alien: Romulus, which did as much as it possibly can with its allotted runtime. Since the two projects released in consecutive years, however, it becomes impossible to avoid comparisons to Alien: Earth.
- Release Date
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August 12, 2025
- Directors
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Dana Gonzales, Ugla Hauksdóttir, Noah Hawley
- Writers
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Bob DeLaurentis
