Before watching Alien: Earth season 1, remember these key points ahead of its release

Alien: Earth season 1, Noah Hawley's upcoming sci-fi thriller series, serves as a prequel to Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien. Releasing on August 12, 2025, the show's narrative revolves around the discovery of xenomorphs from space who crash onto Earth.

The official synopsis for the show, as per FX, reads:

"When the mysterious deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot crash-lands on Earth, Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet's greatest threat."

Part of the Alien franchise, Alien: Earth season 1 will consist of eight episodes, featuring an ensemble cast led by Sydney Chandler. Other actors starring in the series include Alex Lawther, Timothy Olyphant, Essie Davis, Samuel Blenkin, Babou Ceesay, David Rysdahl, Adrian Edmondson, Adarsh Gourav, and more.

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All about the Alien: Earth season 1 timeline

Set in the year 2120, the events of Alien: Earth season 1 occur three years before the 1979 movie Alien, with the Nostromo crew remaining in cryosleep. This positioning enables the series to work through a gap in the franchise timeline without contradiction and with an opening for possible connections to the events in the original film.

The show shows what happens when the Xenomorph threat comes to Earth. The central incident is the crash of Weyland-Yutani's long-range research vessel, the USCSS Maginot, in a city run by rival corporation Prodigy. Unlike the Nostromo, the Maginot's purpose was explicitly to collect alien species, including the Xenomorphs, for corporate research.

The series maintains the franchise's signature biologic horror in the form of the Xenomorph life cycle, starting with the Ovomorph (egg), Facehugger, and Chestburster phases, and ending in the matured, acid-blooded predator. These animals' unparalleled deadliness, coupled with their bio-weapons potential, serve to reinforce the franchise's enduring theme of human greed versus unstoppable extraterrestrial nature.

Audiences can look forward to suspenseful meetings, all-too-familiar cycle-of-life imagery, and emphasis on how humans try and fail to keep the threat contained. Whether these occurrences directly lead to Nostromo's assignment is left up for grabs, and maybe worth a larger exploration in the next seasons.

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All about the Company and synthetic evolution in Alien: Earth season 1

A still from the show (Image via YouTube/FX Networks)

In Alien: Earth season 1, the corporate and political landscape is less cohesive than in the movies, with several mega-corporations vying for control. Weyland-Yutani, which exists in this universe but is not yet the single dominant force, struggles with powerful competition from Prodigy.

The USCSS Maginot crashing into Prodigy-held territory becomes a point of contention, leading to industrial sabotage, control of resources, and brutal corporate machinations. This context builds on the franchise's repeated criticism of capitalism, and presents the Xenomorph as not just a biological threat but also as a highly desirable corporate prize.

The series continues Alien's examination of artificial life. Synthetics, also known as human-like androids, reappear, continuing the tradition of morally complicated AI existing to serve corporate purposes. But Alien: Earth season 1 also adds two new classes: hybrids, such as Wendy, whose human mind is in a synthetic body, and cyborgs, such as Morrow, humans with sophisticated mechanical implants.

These bring new ethical and existential crises, raising questions about what it means to be human when corporate interests control both biology and technology. By combining tried-and-true franchise tropes with fresh lore, Alien: Earth season 1 sets itself up as a bridge between prequel-era narrative and the events that directly lead up to the original film.

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Where to watch all episodes of Alien: Earth season 1?

A still from the show (Image via YouTube/FX Networks)

Viewers in the US can catch the weekly episode releases of Alien: Earth season 1 on FX and Hulu. They can choose either Hulu with Ads or Hulu with no Ads plans based on their preferences. The Hulu with Ads plan costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year and includes access to Hulu's full streaming library.

Meanwhile, Hulu with no Ads costs $18.99 per month, offering an ad-free viewing experience for the platform's content. Both plans include access to FX on Hulu, allowing subscribers to stream FX originals on the same day they air.

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Alien: Earth season 1 will be available to stream on FX and Hulu.