Everyone knows that the Nostromo encountering the Space Jockey in Alien was how humanity became aware of the xenomorphs, but Alien: Earth is about to rewrite that story. Like other Alien prequels that have boldly chest-busted before, the upcoming FX sci-fi series begins with the premise that the extraterrestrials from the 1979 film were lurking around before Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) ever thought about picking up a flamethrower.
A new teaser trailer for Alien: Earth has just arrived, and it establishes that these aliens are coming to our planet after a spaceship loses control and crashes on terra firma. Basically, Alien: Earth suggests an alternate outcome for the original film; what if a human spacecraft was overtaken by xenomorphs and ended up on Earth?
New Alien: Earth Trailer
While previous teasers have suggested that xenomorphs end up on Earth thanks to samples brought back from a “distant moon,” the new preview makes it clear that the xenomorphs run loose on a spaceship in orbit of Earth, which causes it to crash.
What happens next is, in theory, the show’s premise. Back in November, THR revealed that Alien: Earth would follow a “ragtag group of tactical soldiers” tasked with investigating the xenomorphs. Meanwhile, Sandra Yi Sencindiver is set to be a major player at the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, which suggests that at least part of the show will focus on corporate intrigue.
Either way, a spaceship containing xenomorphs crashlanding doesn’t exactly contradict franchise continuity, but it is something new to canon.
Alien: Earth’s timeline, explained
Ripley in hypersleep in Alien.
Although previously thought to take place in the late 2090s, which would overlap with the prequel film Prometheus, most of Alien: Earth will happen in 2120, putting it only two years before the original Alien.
So, unlike the prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, this show will clearly impact the events of Alien. When the Nostromo is sent to investigate the distress call in Alien, “the Company” is already aware that xenomorphs exist. Everything Ash (Ian Holm) says in the original movie says as much. And because early versions of the xenomorphs exist in both Prometheus and Covenant, we could infer that Weyland-Yutani got its data from David (Michael Fassbender) or recovered records from those missions.
But Alien: Earth seems to sidestep all that, creating a new reason for humanity to be aware of the xenomorphs just a few years before Alien. So this is why the crew of the Nostromo is awakened from hypersleep and ordered to take on a dirty and dangerous job. That’s one mystery solved, but Alien: Earth will presumably offer up many more.
