Alien: Earth May Have Solved a Major Franchise Continuity Problem

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Earth” has been released on FX-Hulu, and many viewers are finding it engaging, thanks to showrunner Noah Hawley, who’s known for his work on “Fargo” and “Legion.” However, making this series was quite a challenge compared to the spaceship crash depicted in the show. One of the biggest issues during production was determining where “Alien: Earth” fits into the franchise timeline. To address this, the creators decided to place the series two years before the original “Alien” film from 1979. This move has raised a number of questions from fans who closely follow the Alien franchise and care about continuity.

It’s clear that just two episodes don’t provide a complete answer to all the mysteries within the Alien fanbase, but with the introduction of Alien: Earth, there might be an opportunity for fans to resolve one of the longstanding continuity conundrums that has puzzled the Alien series for over a decade.

Prometheus & Alien Covenant Created Some Big Problems

During the 2010s, renowned director Ridley Scott revisited the Alien franchise with a slight twist. He aimed to produce a prequel or spinoff film named Prometheus (2012), which broke away from traditional prequel conventions to delve into deeper themes of creationism and contemporary theories about extraterrestrial life and its potential links to Earth’s beginnings. Although Prometheus was a successful movie by modern blockbuster standards, earning $403.4 million at the box office (without considering inflation), it remains the highest-grossing film in the Alien franchise. Over time, its status as a thought-provoking sci-fi/horror cult classic has only strengthened. However, one major complaint from fans was that Prometheus left many questions unanswered about the origin of the facehugger parasites, the xenomorph drones, and the crashed ship on LV-426 in the original movie.

In a more straightforward attempt to link “Alien: Covenant” with its precursor, Prometheus, the film actually muddied the waters even further, as seen in its twist ending. SPOILER ALERT: The surprising revelation unveiled that David, the malicious android from Prometheus played by Michael Fassbender, had killed and replaced Walter, the upright android officer from the USCSS Covenant, also portrayed by Fassbender. This plot twist was effective in shocking viewers, but it didn’t align well with continuity. The film suggested that David was responsible for experimenting with the Engineer species’ black goo on their homeworld, utilizing it to create the first facehugger eggs and eventually giving rise to the xenomorphs iconic within the franchise. This new origin story, however, generated numerous unanswered questions – notably, how David went from scattering xenomorph samples throughout the cosmos, to an entire Engineer ship filled with eggs crashing on LV-426, ultimately leading to the tragic fate of the USCSS Nostromo and its crew, who were dispatched by Weyland-Yutani to investigate.

Alien: Earth May Explain the Continuity Gap Between Alien & Its Prequel Films

In a somewhat contentious decision, the showrunner of “Alien: Earth,” Noah Hawley, opted to ignore the events portrayed in “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant.” Instead, he crafted his narrative within a continuity that links with the original “Alien” film from 1979 and the recent reboot movie, “Alien: Romulus.” This means that while the show doesn’t address how an Engineer spaceship ended up on LV-426, it does provide a significant break in the franchise timeline. The plot of “Alien: Earth” revolves around a Weyland-Yutani Corporation spacecraft, the USCSS “Maginot,” which crash-lands on Earth after a journey of nearly 70 years into deep space, seeking out dangerous lifeforms. Among the five species the “Maginot” crew captured, one is the xenomorphs (as expected), specifically a group of facehugger eggs that are brought back to Earth, causing them to hatch and cause chaos upon arrival.

In simpler terms, it has been established that the corporation Weyland-Yutani was aware of the xenomorph species long before the events in “Alien.” They didn’t just know about these dangerous aliens; they desired them as potential bio-weapons due to research done by the Maginot. This theory can be expanded by dedicated fans to link the franchise continuity, suggesting that the Maginot was sent by Weyland-Yutani to find David (a rogue company android), the USCSS Covenant (a company colonization vessel), or both. This could account for how the crew of the Maginot eventually found and captured facehugger eggs after tracking down David.

Despite whether Prometheus or Covenant are included in the theory, the franchise’s continuity now confirms that Weyland-Yutani was aware of xenomorphs before the events of Alien, having both the knowledge and intention to continue searching for new samples following the presumed destruction of the ones from Alien: Earth. This revelation makes the outcome of the Nostromo crew even more tragic, suggesting they were likely sent to LV-426 as a sacrifice. The company’s haste to label the crew expendable and secret orders given to synthetic officer Ash to secure the xenomorph sample underscore this point, as Weyland-Yutani was eager to avoid repeating a second failure in obtaining it. By Alien: Romulus, the corporation finally achieves its goal-acquiring xenomorph DNA for creating the powerful (and potentially dangerous) Prometheus serum.

Alien: Earth is streaming on FX-Hulu.

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2025-08-14 03:21