GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.
Living through a pandemic isn’t entirely unlike being stalked by “a perfect organism” hellbent on tearing you limb from limb. As it turns out, that similarity was not lost on Noah Hawley, showrunner for FX’s Alien series, Alien: Earth. During a roundtable chat, Hawley explained how the pandemic affected the Alien series logistically and thematically.
“We went through this COVID period. I was shut down on Fargo [Season 4]. We had six months before we could go back into production,” Hawley said. “And I remember, everything’s shut down, and no one really knew what to do, and this [Alien] project was already in the works. For about six months, I would just have a weekly call with [FX’s] John Landgraf and Gina Balian, and we would just sort of talk around this idea of the show and, you know, it was actually a really great period to be able to workshop it.”
While those considerations were more practical, Hawley added that the series and the pandemic naturally share some space in his mind.
“I think COVID as a virus, right, and this as a show in a franchise that’s primarily about parasites, you’re always looking at those elements that just genetically make you uncomfortable. You know what I mean? That revulsion feeling. And so that’s something that was definitely brought to the forefront by what we all went through,” he said.
The show’s shooting schedule was later interrupted by the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, but Hawley explained how this had an unexpected benefit.
“We finally went into production, and then the strikes shut us down,” Hawley said. “And so then I had six, eight months between, I’d shot about three weeks of footage, but then I was able to look at that footage and cut it together in a way that you don’t normally have and really live with it and learn from it.”
With so many hurdles now cleared, it seems like Alien: Earth is ready for its landing on FX and Hulu on August 12. For more on the series, here’s how it fits into the Alien timeline.
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com
