By and large, everyone who’s been watching and talking about Alien: Earth has come away with majority-positive reactions, with loads of praise going to creator Noah Hawley and the show’s massive creative team for their gorgeous efforts. But in the scheme of things, there are only a select few whose opinions really matter for those who’ve been following the Alien movie timeline since the missions began, and scream queen Sigourney Weaver is certainly a big part of that list.
Weaver’s potential return to the role of Ripley aside, her opinions about new canonical projects are always valued by the fandom, since she’s arguably had more experience with the franchise than anyone else. So when she opened up about having watched Alien: Earth, ears were perked. She told Collider:
What I admire about it is it's not Alien-centric. It is about what world we will be living in in 100 years. I think the scope of it is so much bigger than an Alien project. Fascinating.
To her point, pulling this sci-fi narrative away from the saliva-dripping Xenomorphs and putting it more on humanity was a big reason why Noah Hawley wanted to devote himself to this project from the jump. As it goes with most iconic horror properties, the monsters always get the marquee attention, but it's the human elements that make the projects relatable and keep audiences coming back for more. It helps when the human characters aren't just ciphers of archetypes, also, and Alien: Earth definitely has more complex ideas at play.
Weaver specifically pointed out how much she enjoys the show's digging into its core themes, despite not painting humanity in a very positive light. As she put it:
Much more about our world, what's going to be happening to it, what's going to be important, the role of greed. It's just exploded some of the themes that have always been part of the Alien series, and I think it's beautifully cast and beautifully done. I can't believe it's television, frankly.
Case in point, the fifth episode was crafted more or less as a full-length prequel companion to Ridley Scott's Alien, with the Maginot ship serving as more or less a mirror image of the Nostromo. It played out with much more of a survival horror vibe than prior episodes, trading a vastness in scope for close-quarters terror, showing off just how much budgetary scope the show is afforded by FX and Hulu.
The show is always noteworthy for putting the focus on Weyland-Yutani and its current execs, rather than having them serve in an overarching antagonistic role as per usual. Having the billionaire genius Boy Kavalier as a separate antagonist only ups the ante, while also keeping greed and selfishness at the forefront. Poor Wendy and the other kids.
Will fans get to see Sigourney Weaver's Ripley making an appearance in Noah Hawley's series? It doesn't seem extremely likely just yet, although A:E takes place just two years before the events of Alien, so there wouldn't need to be any story gymnastics put into place to make it work, even if some deaging CGI would likely come into it.
Alien: Earth drops new episodes every Tuesday on FX or via Hulu subscription at 8:00 p.m. ET.
