Alien: Earth with Noah Hawley

Sep 26, 2025

Noah Hawley, acclaimed writer and director known for his work on Fargo, dives into the thrilling world of his new show, Alien: Earth. He discusses the show's philosophical layers and its gritty take on capitalism through a corporate-controlled future. Hawley explores the chilling bond between Wendy, a child in a synthetic body, and a xenomorph, teasing the complexities of heroism and human failings. He reflects on childhood innocence as a lens to critique adult complacency, while also hinting at future story expansions and the balance of horror and humanity.

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INSIGHT

Capitalism Colonizes The Future

Noah Hawley positioned Alien: Earth to foreground corporatized futures and capitalism's spread into space.
He treats the franchise's original corporate bleakness as a thematic springboard for modern anxieties.

INSIGHT

Adapt By Recreating The Feeling

Hawley adapts Alien by chasing the feelings the original evoked rather than literal beats or scripts.
He pulls themes like expendability and mundanity forward to create new stories that feel true to the franchise.

INSIGHT

Child POV Reveals Adult Failure

Viewing the world through children's eyes clarifies adult failures and simplifies moral questions.
Hawley uses Wendy's perspective to force adults' contradictions into stark relief.

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In space, no one can hear you scream. On Earth, however, around 9pm for the last seven or eight Tuesdays, you may well hear some shrieks of terror, emanating from nearby apartment windows – all thanks to one of the boldest and blood-soaked sci-fi shows to grace the small screen in recent memory.

Alien: Earth is the new show from our guest today, Noah Hawley and it’s a masterclass in philosophical sci-fi. You probably don’t need to be told of the cultural significance of the Alien franchise, which began back in 1979 with Ridley Scott’s tale of a crew of space truckers hunted by an extraterrestrial killing machine. You certainly don’t need to tell Noah, who knew precisely the risks involved in bringing Xenomorphs to TV for the first time. Luckily, this is a writer, director and novelist we’re talking about who’s turned major movie IP into surprise TV smashes before. With five seasons of a brilliant TV adaptation of Fargo behind him, the 58-year-old understood the assignment in front of him.

This week, the first season of the show reached its violent climax, capping the first chapter in the tale of Wendy – a terminally-ill child plunged into the body of a synthetic human adult, and subsequently caught up in a fight between corporations for five dangerous alien specimens. Listen in for Noah’s spoiler-filled revelations about the real-world inspirations behind its power-hungry trillionaire antagonists. Discover more about the huge swing for the fences the show takes in its final two episodes involving Wendy and a Xenomorph. And finally, learn what the future perhaps holds for these characters, with season two as yet unconfirmed…

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