Dr. K's Waiting Room

Quick Facts:
First announced in February 2019, showrunner Noah Hawley pitched Alien: Earth as a prelude to Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien rather than being beholden to Scott’s divisive prequels. One of FX’s biggest productions, filming was delayed by COVID-19 and the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike and employed practical effects from Wētā Workshop wherever possible. Praised by a critics and former franchise star Sigourney Weaver, Alien: Earth was successful enough to greenlight a second season.

The Review:
Ever since the troubled Alien³ (Fincher, 1992), the Alien franchise has teased bringing the titular Xenomorphs to Earth. However, this concept appeared only in comic books and the poorly received Aliens vs. Predator movies (Various, 2004; 2007), and even then the Xenomorphs were limited to Antarctica and a quiet America suburb, respectively. Alien: Earth therefore had a lot of potential, though strangely chose to be a prequel to Alien rather than taking place at any point after that. To be fair, I don’t have a massive issue with this as it was always clear to me that the malevolent Weyland-Yutani Corporation knew about the Xenomorphs prior to Alien, and the decision to set the series in this time seems purely to recreate the aesthetics of Alien and Aliens (Cameron, 1986), just as Alien: Romulus (Álvarez, 2024) did the year prior. Still, it was a little disappointing that the series didn’t depict Aliens loose in a heavily populated, sci-fi city. There is a bit of that, particularly in “Mr. October” (Gonzales, 2025), where a Xenomorph (Cameron Brown) goes on a bloody rampage through a New Siam skyscraper, but mostly the narrative is limited to a private island facility overseen by Prodigy Corporation’s chief executive officer (CEO) and “Boy Genius” Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin). Things start off quite strong when the Weyland-Yutani’s deep-space research vessel, the USCSS Maginot, crashes into New Siam, causing a fair bit of damage and raising tensions between Company CEO Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) and the arrogant, condescending Kavalier, who plunders the ship’s bizarre and hazardous aliens to further increase his already staggering trillionaire wealth and get one-up on Weyland-Yutani by weaponising the aliens before they can.

Kavalier’s manic ambitions see him favour these aliens over his newest creation, the first-ever symbiosis between human and synthetic life, which he frames as a way to give dying children a chance at immortality but is actually to feed his own wealth and ego. Kavalier’s prize “hybrid” is Wendy (Sydney Chandler), formally terminal Marcy Hermit (Florence Bensberg), who volunteered after being won over by the Boy Genius and his lead scientists, Arthur (David Rysdahl) and Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis), who frame the procedure as a life-saving opportunity to essentially live forever in a superhuman body, likening Wendy and her fellow hybrids to Peter Pan’s “Lost Boys”. As the first and oldest, Wendy is Kavalier’s favourite and designated the leader of the Lost Boys, whom she helps acclimatise to their new synthetic bodies, which allow them to expand their learning and abilities (though they retain their child-like demeanour). Initially, Wendy is enamoured by the Boy Genius and eager to prove herself and the Lost Boys to Kavalier, volunteering to investigate the Maginot to show that she’s “premium” and also reunite with her brother, Joe (Alex Lawther), a medic for Prodigy’s Security Service. Wendy’s childhood memories and desire to reunite with Joe trouble Kavalier and her handler, Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), a stoic synthetic who barely tolerates Kavalier and seeks to protect his investment in the Lost Boys while also being intrigued by the aliens. Despite her childish nature, Wendy proves a formidable character when she kills a Xenomorph to protect her brother and soon becomes invaluable to Kavalier as she can sense and even communicate with the Xenomorphs due to a software glitch, which also sees her hack Prodigy terminals and even disable synthetics like Atom Eins (Adrian Edmondson), Kavalier’s sinister butler who delivers veiled threats on his behalf.

Wendy’s extremely protective of the Lost Boys, initially urging them to follow the Boy Genius’s lead and be the next step in the evolutionary chain, and later defending them when they’re threatened. The Lost Boys are far more immature compared to Wendy, and some are much more emotionally unhinged, like Rose Ellis/Nibs (Lily Newmark), who’s severely traumatised after an encounter with the Trypanohyncha Ocellus that sees Dame forced to wipe her memory to ease her pain and sees her become violently unstable. Jane Mita/Curly (Erana James) harbours a jealousy towards Wendy and seeks to replace her as Kavalier’s favourite, somewhat ostracising her from the others, though she ultimately defers to Wendy’s authority after witnessing Kavalier’s callous attitude towards them. Steven DiMarco/Tootles (Kit Young) gets an inflated ego by working as Kirsh’s assistant, renaming himself Isaac to suit his “adult” personality and ultimately being melted by flying alien bugs after foolishly trapping himself in their cage. Aarush Singh/Slightly (Adarsh Gourav) and Christopher Okafor/Smee (Jonathan Ajayi) are largely inseparable, though Smee’s wish to simply play and have fun like kids is constantly ignored or shot down by the others and especially Slightly, who’s amazed after they encounter the Maginot’s cyborg security officer, Kumi Morrow (Babou Ceesay), and is targeted by him in his quest to secure a Xenomorph sample for Yutani. Manipulated by Morrow, Slightly’s forced to impregnate Arthur with a Chestburster to spare his mother, Meera (Anjana Ghogar), and his family. Conflicted about this, Slightly is prone to outbursts, especially once Joe joins the group, and is wracked by guilt following Arthur’s death. Joe bonds with the Lost Boys quite well but remains focused on keeping Wendy safe, risking being fired, fined, or even prosecuted when he threatens to take her away and encountering some resistance from Wendy about this as she’s so grateful to be part of Kavalier’s operation.

Morrow is one of the standout characters of Alien: Earth. Met with distrust and even hatred by the Maginot crew as many in this world are dismissive or prejudiced against synthetics and cyborgs, Morrow is initially very cold-hearted, uncompromising, and almost machine-like character. He thinks nothing of sacrificing the Maginot’s crew as per Company orders or leaving others to face similarly gruesome ends to achieve his goal. Having lost sixty-five years and his daughter to the Maginot, Morrow has nothing to live for but the aliens and stubbornly sets out to reclaim the Xenomorph from Kavalier, threatening Slightly’s family and sacrificing anyone in the process. “In Space, No One…” (Hawley, 2025), which is essentially a retelling of Alien, gives Morrow the spotlight and shows his desperate attempts to lockdown the Maginot after science officer Chibuzo’s (Karen Aldridge) aliens escape and the ship is sabotaged by chief engineer Petrovich (Enzo Cilenti) on Kavalier’s orders. Thanks to acting captain Zoya Zaveri’s (Richa Moorjani) blunders, which cost additional lives, Morrow takes command and tries to contain the situation, then seals himself in the computer room to survive the crash to Earth. Despite his cybernetic arm (which sports a knife and a blowtorch) and nodes, Morrow is ultimately bitched out by Kirsh, though badly damages the android. Kirsh was also a standout thanks to Olyphant’s quiet, measured performance which fittingly recalls Blade Runner’s (Scott, 1982) Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer). Though he cares for the Lost Boys and encourages them to fulfil their full potential, Kirsh is quick to focus on the aliens but is ultimately bound to the Boy Genius’s orders, which clearly doesn’t sit well with Kirsh as he, like Arthur and Joe, are frustrated at being talked down to by Kavalier and forced to bend to his will or risk potentially fatal punishment.

Kavalier is easily the most aggravating aspect of Alien: Earth. Having been abused by his jealous, alcoholic father and amassed a trillion-dollar company at a young age, Kavalier is widely regarded as a boy prodigy and fully aware of his high intellect. Prone to emotional outbursts and flights of fancy, Kavalier thinks nothing of threatening or sacrificing anyone to get his way, having built a synth to kill his father and barely caring about the alien threat. All he sees is an excuse to expand his empire and prove his superiority over Yutani, arrogantly swanning around in robes, baggy clothing, or with his shoes off and being a condescending little shit to everyone, no matter how integral they are to his operation. Even the Lost Boys aren’t spared his patronising demeanour as he quickly grows bored of their emotional baggage and childish ways, urging them to be more and expand their minds to give him at least an interesting conversation, if not an intellectual equal. Though impressed by Curly’s ambition, he dismisses her attempts to replace Wendy when he sees that Wendy can communicate with the Xenomorphs and barely flinches upon seeing Isaac’s partially melted (and digested) body. Even Atom despairs of his master’s impulsive nature and advises against separating the aliens due to the potential risk, as well as questioning Kavalier abandoning the hybrids to obsess over the T. Ocellus as it demonstrates intelligence after infecting a sheep. Kavalier’s arrogance eventually proves his downfall as he assumes the Lost Boys will be happy with being regarded as mere products to be sold to others and doesn’t see their rebellion coming in “The Real Monsters” (Gonzales, 2025), where he, Atom, and Dame are spared the bloody end that they deserve and left imprisoned and at the mercy of Wendy and her friends.

Having investigated distant moons, Maginot is carrying some alien specimens for Weyland-Yutani’s bio-weapons division. Though the aliens unsettle the crew, Chibuzo is fascinated by them, particularly the resilient bloodsucking leeches that escape and infect apprentice engineer Malachite (Jamie Bisping). These nasty little critters attach themselves to his oesophagus and ultimately kill him, Chibuzo, and medical officer Rahim (Amir Boutrous) by releasing a toxin when threatened. Thanks to Morrow, we also see that these bugs favour latching onto a victim’s neck and draining their blood, like leeches. Isaac falls victim to fly-like aliens that have evolved to consume inorganic matter and secrete an acid-like substance to subdue their prey, being much more proactive than the carnivorous plant D. Plumbicare, which patiently waits to strike. The T. Ocellus was the show’s breakout star, for sure, being an octopus-like eyeball that removes its victim’s eyeball and then controls their body like a puppet. Oddly, the T. Ocellus exhibits intelligence and even benevolence as it tries to warn Chibuzo of the ticks and even attacks the Xenomorph threatening the Maginot but later causes Slighty’s death and is more dismissive of humans, perhaps due its time in captivity. Naturally, the ship’s main prize is the Xenomorph eggs and Facehuggers they bring back, which we learn continue to gestate even in cryosleep and again emerge in record time to get an Alien onscreen. While the Aliens are used sparingly, they’re as ferocious and vicious as ever, tearing apart anyone in their path or partially cocooning them to lure in prey. We see a different side to the Alien here, though, as one is pacified by Wendy and follows her commands, effectively being tamed by the hybrid to be turned against those who would harm her or her friends. Though the Alien returns to its terrifying roots in “In Space, No One…”, it’s seen in full daylight in “Emergence” (Gonzales, 2025) and there are times when the suit looks a little dodgy and clunky. However, CGI renditions of the creature allow it to move faster and be more versatile and it still causes much carnage, skewering prey with its tail, ripping torsos from legs, and massacring woefully even troops of armed soldiers.

If there’s one thing Alien: Earth has going for it, it’s the atmosphere. The show perfectly recreates the look, sound, and feel of Alien and Aliens, clearly working from production designs or blueprints from the Nostromo to build the Maginot’s sets, which include darkly lit, claustrophobic corridors, a clinical mess hall, and a beautifully seventies computer room, complete with all the keyboard and computer sounds from the first movie. The sets bring an unprecedented level of authenticity to Alien: Earth and really help it fit right in with the original films as cameras, weapons, and terminals all have a clunky, retro-futuristic vibe rather than being all slick touchscreens and holograms. This is obviously best seen in “In Space, No One…”, which recreates the same claustrophobic horror and paranoia as Alien, but all Kavalier’s facilities feel right at home in this world too, as though he invested heavily in the research but wasn’t bothered by the aesthetics. While I had some issues with the Xenomorph suit, the effects are largely very impressive, and every episode felt like a mini movie with a lot of money and attention to detail behind it. Morrow’s cybernetic arm could be a bit dodgy, but everything was shot in a way that benefitted the effects and highlighted how complacent many of these characters are as they get distracted, make mistakes, or simply aren’t mature enough to think about every eventuality. I’ve seen people complaining that each episode ends with a rock song or music track, but I didn’t mind this, mainly because one is by Metallica and I simply skipped the credits, and because the score echoed the foreboding tunes of Alien and the militaristic adrenaline of Aliens. While we don’t spend much time in New Siam, the city and its architecture fittingly mirror Blade Runner, depicting a “lived-in” world where the decadent indulge their excess and trillionaires measure their dicks before their android servants.

Blade Runner is a fitting comparison as Alien: Earth focuses almost entirely on synthetic life, to some degree. Wendy and other Lost Boys constantly question their humanity and mortality, believing they cannot get sick or die and are “premium” and thus leaving them rattled when Isaac is killed. Some of them struggle with their identity, others with their maturity, and they all insist that they are now adults simply because they have grown-up bodies and yet cannot escape the fact that they’re still children and prone to mistakes and manipulation. Alien: Earth isn’t saying anything especially groundbreaking with these characters, but it’s an interesting wrinkle on the franchise’s synthetics, which are generally always subservient to humans or blindly loyal to the Company. There’s a lot of prejudice against synthetics, even cyborgs like Morrow, which eventually fuels Wendy’s revolution against Kavalier when she realises that they don’t need to follow his commands as she can freely manipulate his technology and control Xenomorphs. Her perception of Kavalier changes when Dame rewrites Nibs’ personality, allowing her to finally agree with Joe’s plan to flee the island, only for tensions to flare between them when Joe’s marine buddies attack Nibs in self-defence. They quickly overcome their differences, however, to unite against Kavalier, who devastates the Lost Boys with his dismissive attitude towards them. Even Curly comes around in the face of this, reclaiming her previous name and joining Wendy in solidarity, the Lost Boys realising that they were manipulated into accepting nigh-immortality but being merely regarded as products, seen by Kavalier as being little better than a regular synth despite their unique composition. Despite Wendy getting the Xenomorphs on side and claiming dominion over Kavalier’s island, the hybrids and Joe face an uncertain future as the T. Ocellus is still out there, puppeting Arthur’s body, and Weyland-Yutani are closing in to retrieve their specimens from the belittling Boy Genius…   

Final Thoughts:
I was admittedly sceptical about an Alien TV show, primarily because TV spin-offs of big movie franchises rarely work, especially effects-heavy, R-rated franchises. I was mostly pleasantly surprised, especially by the aesthetics and the atmosphere. It was immensely satisfying seeing practical sets that lovingly recreate the environments from the original film, especially to create a visual cohesion within the franchise. Alien: Romulus did the same thing, recreating Nostromo-like architecture and technology, but Alien: Earth takes it to the next level with the Maginot, which is almost a 1:1 recreation of the Nostromo. This extends to the spotlight episode of the series, “In Space, No One…”, which sees the Maginot crew mumble and talk over each other, bicker, and struggle to work together against a hostile force just like in Alien. Tensions are raised even further here, though, thanks to the vitriol aimed at Morrow and the crew’s disdain for the unsettling Teng (Andy Yu), to say nothing of their lack of faith in Zaveri. It’s a bit of a shame that we don’t spend more time with the crew as they’re exactly the sort of blue-collar workers who the Alien films typically revolve around, but I was intrigued by the focus on the hybrids and their existential crisis. I can see why some would find the constant references to Peter Pan (Barrie, 1904; Luske, Geronimi, and Jackson, 1953) annoying but it makes a morbid sense considering the hyperactive Kavalier is like a bratty child who feels a kinship with children and their endless imaginations. Morrow and the Xenomorph flesh out this analogy as Captain James Hook and the crocodile, respectively, though if anything this thematic through-line isn’t emphasised enough. It mainly boils down to the hybrids worrying about their humanity, concerned that they’ll never really grow up, and struggling to adapt to their adult bodies when they’re still ruled by childish impulses…much like the Boy Genius.

Dodgy haircut aside, I quite liked Wendy’s character and arc, though I don’t recall it being explained how and why she can mess with Prodigy’s systems or communicate with the Aliens. It was an interesting wrinkle, though, and something we haven’t seen from the franchise before (outside of the comics, maybe) with a tamed Xenomorph. This worked in the sense that Wendy showed the Alien compassion, respect, and understanding rather than reacting violently to it or trying to capture and study it like everyone else, and it shows the potential for the Xenomorphs to be more than just killing machines. They still are, thankfully, splattering blood and entrails all over and bursting from chests with a voracious appetite, and fully taking advantage of stupid people who stupidly mess with their eggs or try to remove the Facehuggers. Wendy is inarguably the most fleshed out of the hybrids, running a gamut of emotions as she is first blindly loyal to the man who gave her a new life and then realises that she’s seen as nothing but property when she’s capable of so much more. The other Lost Boys were entertaining enough, but there were maybe too many of them. Smee, Slightly, and Nibs were probably all that were needed and could’ve have characteristics of Curly and Isaac merged with them, just to offer more well-rounded characters, but it was kinda fun seeing them act like kids while operating these adult and very powerful synthetic bodies. Joe was a bit of a weak link to me, despite the tender bond he shares with Wendy, and I found myself hoping for the T. Ocellus to possess him just to give him more personality and agency and create a bizarre dynamic between him and Wendy, as he wouldn’t be fully human and neither would she. As is, he’s just a nice guy trying to protect his sister, but who is largely out of his depth when fighting both Prodigy’s legal department and the Xenomorph.

The aliens were obvious a highlight, stealing every scene with their weird and horrific natures. Even the ticks are incredibly intelligent and dangerous, and I liked that the Alien universe gave us a glimpse of the other “bugs” out in the stars. The T. Ocellus was disgustingly intriguing, seemingly wanting to help its human captors and then choosing chaos when imprisoned on Kavalier’s island. The Xenomorph is rightfully presented as the ultimate predator and the primary goal of Weyland-Yutani, with Morrow manipulating Slightly into infecting an innocent victim just to smuggle a specimen to Yutani. Morrow was quite a complex character, too, being hardened and ruthless but also compassionate at times, and driven to complete what he saw as his life’s goal. It was interesting that he remained loyal to Yutani despite having every reason to go on a vendetta against her for costing him his family, his life, and his crew, though he was clearly conflicted between his mission and his loyalties. Kirsh was equally a consistently complex character, exhibiting disgust at his position with Prodigy and his subservience to Kavalier while moulding the hybrids into functioning individuals and gleefully experimenting on the different aliens despite knowing how dangerous they were. Alien: Earth is definitely very ambitious, expanding the lore to include competing corporations and existential discussions, but this was also a season of highs and lows. The highs were very enjoyable and did the franchise justice, delving deeper into the characterisation and perception of synthetics and delivering some gruesome new alien creatures, but the lows undeniably dragged it down. These are mainly the length of each episode, the repetitive nature of the hybrids’ existential worries, and failing to properly pay off some of its plot threads in favour of a cliff-hanger. I think long-time Alien fans will still find plenty to enjoy, however, especially when the show is paying homage to the first two movies.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Were you a fan of season one of Alien: Earth? Did the constant references to Peter Pan irk you or were you intrigued by the existential narrative? Which of the new aliens was your favourite and did you like seeing a tame Xenomorph? Were you also impressed by the visuals and attention to detail in the sets and props? What direction would you like to see the series go in the future? Which Alien movie is your favourite? Tell me what you thought about Alien: Earth in the comments and then show me some love on Ko-Fi to support the site.