Commentary: ‘Alien: Earth’ Stays True To The Franchise’s Namesake

Like Predator, the Alien franchise has a very vague title, and this was done on purpose to explore the meaning of the word to its fullest limits. Of course, an alien can refer to an extraterrestrial, but it also can refer to something strange, weird, and unique, which is exactly how the xenomorph’s life cycle was portrayed. A facehugger comes from an egg and latches onto a host before implanting a xenomorph inside their body, which will eventually burst through the person’s chest. That must have felt incredibly alien the first time audiences experienced it, but the alien nature of the xenomorph has gotten lost over time as fans have become familiar with the creature. So it’s great to see Alien: Earth return the series to its alien roots in multiple ways.

The series is, essentially, two stories combined. The first is about a deep space research vessel carrying a multitude of alien life forms crash landing in a Earth city. The second story deals with a young trillionaire inventor named Boy (Samuel Blenkin) who creates the means to transport a human consciousness into a synthetic body. So far, the procedure can only work on children. This prototype group is called “The Lost Boys” since their minds can never age and is led by the first of their kind, whom Boy names “Wendy” (Sydney Chandler).

Of course, one of the life forms the ship was carrying was a xenomorph, but it wasn’t alone. It also contained other extraterrestrial life, including deadly, flying insects and a highly intelligent parasitic eyeball that can take over a host by inserting itself into an eye socket. These creatures were incredibly alien in nature, but they aren’t the only things the title could refer to. Even though they are mechanical and contain human minds, the Lost Boys themselves are a kind of alien. They are so different from either a living human or a synthetic — artificial person — that their lives are uniquely one of a kind. So it’s great to see the show really lean into its title and stretch the limits of what it means to be an alien.

Alien: Earth is now streaming on Hulu.