Exploring the "Alien" Movies and HR Giger. All entries are continuously edited and altered. Articles are published not by actual date.
Alien: The TV series
a) Pitching an Alien TV series for FX TV
a.i) Having ideas about a show
Rumours came about the creation of an Alien televisions series around the end of 2018 before news soon came about in 2019 that Noah Hawley pitched the series for FX TV
His idea was that on some level, Alien was the complete opposite of Star Trek, near enough about humanity at its worst
He thought about the time that Sigourney Weaver as Ripley says, ‘I don’t know which
species is worse. At least they don’t screw each other over for a
percentage.’
So he thought about how the alien life form tended to be in a story about being trapped: trapped in a ship, trapped in a prison, etc.
a.ii) Expanding the Life cycle routine
With that the Alien has this life cycle, where it goes from egg, to
chestburster, to xenomorph, and there becomes a certain routine to it.
He thought that it would be interesting if that world could be expanded, especially if it was going to be a ten hour television series.
He thought that the life cycle of this creature was insane as well as terrifying.
At one point it's an egg and inside that egg is another creature that attaches to your face. Then that creatue attaches to your face laying another creature inside of you. Then that creature bursts out anf grows to something that seems nine feet tall. But what is this creature?
Who was laying he eggs? Once James Cameron added his alien queen to the life cycle, there was no discuvery or surprise , we're just doing that again and again
a.iii) Attempting at pitching the show
If there was two hours of action, then there was still going to be eight hours left.
At the pitching, he tried to tell them what the show was about.
His idea was to take the alien out of the show, and then find out what was the show about?
What are the themes, who are the characters, and what is the human drama?
Then the aliens would be dropped back in so that they could say "This is great. Not only is there great human drama, but
there’s aliens!’"
What appeared to have happened was that Fox executive Emma Watts was said to have shot down the pitch and it has also been said that Fox head Stacey Snider also was responsible for turning down the idea
He
knew tha FX trusted him after all these years having worked on Legion
for them and the writing was on the page for the first year.
With Legion, he had what felt like a three-act structure to it, but he didn't know if that would be three seasons or five seasons, but he knew there was a beginning, middle and end. With the Alien series, he knw that there desire was for a recurring series rather than a limited one. He had an idea that he was excited about, and he could see the escalation of it from one year to another.
So instead of pitching them having a bible or pitching them blow-by-blow, he was saying to them “Big picture: this is
the first movement, this is the second movement, and we're ultimately
going here."
Noah Hawley is one of the most interesting and respected filmmakers
working today. Sure, he didn’t have the best of luck with his debut
feature, “Lucy in the Sky,” but his work on TV is pretty much
second-to-none, as “Fargo” continues to impress. But that doesn’t mean
he just is able to get every project he wants greenlit by studios. In
fact, as discussed in a new Observer interview, he had a pitch for
“Alien” that isn’t likely going to get made, as it will join the ranks
of his unproduced “Star Trek” feature. And as you might expect, Ridley
Scott’s sci-fi/horror franchise is very different than “Star Trek.” “‘Alien’
is on some level the complete opposite of ‘Stark Trek,’” Hawley
explained. “It’s sort of about humanity at its worst. There’s this
moment in the second film when Sigourney says, ‘I don’t know which
species is worse. At least they don’t screw each other over for a
percentage.’ If you look at what Aliens tends to be, it’s usually a
trapped story – trapped in a ship, trapped in a prison, etc. And because
the Alien has this life cycle to it, where it goes from egg, to
chestburster, to xenomorph, there becomes a certain routine to it.” So,
with the “Alien” franchise being so different than “Star Trek,” how did
Hawley approach this unique style of sci-fi franchise? “I thought
it would be interesting if you could expand,” he said. “If you’re going
to make something for television, you’ve got 10 hours let’s say. Even if
you have a lot of action, like two hours, then you’re still going to
have eight hours left. So what is the show about? That’s what I tried to
talk to them about.” Hawley continued, “As I did with ‘Legion,’ the
exercise is: Let’s take the superhero stuff out of the show and see if
it’s still a great show. What’s the show about? Let’s take the Alien out
of the show. What’s the show about? What are the themes, who are the
characters and what is the human drama? Then we drop the aliens back in
and we go, ‘This is great. Not only is there great human drama, but
there’s aliens!’” While an “Alien” series without a xenomorph sounds a
bit like “Prometheus” (and we all know how badly most fans responded to
that), it’s hard to argue with the guy that not only did an ‘X-Men’
show (“Legion”) without superheroes and was able to make the “Fargo” TV
series not only work as a concept but actually become one of the best
shows around. So, yes, we should give him the benefit of the doubt when
it comes to a proposed “Alien” series. The only problem is that it
doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to happen. Much like “Star Trek” on
the big screen, no one really knows what to do with “Alien” right now.
Maybe that’s for the best. (https://theplaylist.net/noah-hawley-alien-tv-series-20200925/)
“Watts has long been known as a very strong executive, and several
have said she is about the only one there who has been clued in on the
Disney plans. Does she have the clout to prevent Fox film properties
from being repurposed as TV projects or as streaming projects on Hulu
and Disney+ with low budgets and no back-ends? Sources said that in the
recent past she fended off an attempt by [Noah] Hawley and FX to take the Aliens franchise and turn it into a miniseries… She did that before the Disney deal, when it was a whole different ballgame.”(https://bloody-disgusting.com/tv/3552491/legion-creator-noah-hawley-fx-wanted-make-alien-miniseries-fox-shot/)
Collider:Jumping
into another thing, I heard and I could be wrong about this thing, you
had pitched or had an idea for an Alien series. Um, is that true?
Noah Hawley: That
I pitched or had an idea for one. Er, you know, a few years ago, FX
asked me if that, if that was a thing, would that be a thing for me, erm
and we had a conversation about it but it didn't go very far and
obviously it doesn't seem to be a thing, Alien for TV , but you know,
it's, I mean it's such a great, it's such a great story, those, those,
certainly those original two movies, you know, uh, um, are so iconic,
but yeah, I don't know, it's not, it's not on my brain right now(https://youtu.be/oqAqmoLAJTA?t=150 Collider, 11th October 2020)
Deadline: We’ve known for some time that film chief Stacey Snider won’t be part of
the Disney future, even though she has been in her office this week.
Watts has long been known as a very strong executive, and several have
said she is about the only one there who has been clued in on the Disney
plans. Does she have the clout to prevent Fox film properties from
being repurposed as TV projects or as streaming projects on Hulu and
Disney+ with low budgets and no back-ends? Sources said that in the
recent past she fended off an attempt by Hawley and FX to take the Aliens franchise and turn it into a miniseries, and when Searchlight once wanted to do something with The Omen,
she held fast because who wants to give up your franchises? She did
that before the Disney deal, when it was a whole different ballgame. (https://deadline.com/2019/03/fox-film-disney-paul-feig-universal-fox-layoffs-1202579443/)
Noah Hawley: Obviously, they trust me after all these years, and the writing was on
the page for the first year. So, in success, you tell the story and tell
the story until the story is done. They're very good at that at FX, of
not wanting you to milk something that feels like it's over. Legion,
for me, I thought ended quite elegantly in that last season with a sort
of perfect circle, literally back to the opening image. If they'd said
we want one more season, now you've got a detour and you’ve gotta sort
of add a thing that's not organic to the full story. It's just better if the story itself can drive how long it is. We want quality, not quantity. (collider https://collider.com/alien-series-multiple-seasons/, January 2024)
Noah Hawley: I think that endings are what gives a story meaning, and so you
should never start a story without some sense of where it's going
because then you can really build that meaning into it. (collider https://collider.com/alien-series-multiple-seasons/, January 2024)
Noah Hawley: With Legion, I had what felt like a three-act structure to
it that I didn't know if that would be three seasons or five seasons, or
whatever it was, but I sort of knew what a beginning, middle, and end
was. And here, similarly, I knew that their desire was for a
recurring series, not a limited series, and I had an idea that I was
excited about, that I could see the escalation of it from one year to
another. That's where we ended up not pitching them having a
bible or pitching them blow-by-blow, but saying, “Big picture: this is
the first movement, this is the second movement, and we're ultimately
going here." (collider https://collider.com/alien-series-multiple-seasons/, January 2024)
His next TV adaptation: ‘Alien’
After putting his stamp on “Fargo,” Hawley is in the process of
adapting another established cult movie, “Alien,” into a TV series for
FX. He is directing the first hour of the sci-fi spin-off, which was
first announced in December 2020, and said about 70% of it was shot before filming was suspended over the summer. With the industry beginning to power back up now that the writers’ and actors’strikes have ended, Hawley confirmed plans to resume production in 2024.
“The
plan now is to go back in January, prep the rest of the season — it’s
an eight episode season — and start shooting again in early February
through July. We’re filming in Bangkok, which is another world away
and has been such a great experience for me. It’s aliens and spaceships
and science fiction; it’s a whole new palette and genre.
It’s weird to start, then stop and wait. I was able to cut
together what I shot and to really think deeply about what have I
learned and do some script revisions, so there’s also invaluable-ness to
the opportunity of time, which is something in TV you never get because
you’re always racing.”
The series is set in a time period before the events
in the 1979 sci-fi horror classic, and it is the first story in the
franchise that takes place on Earth. As Hawley explained, building out
the mythology is what made adapting the “Alien” universe for TV
compelling to him.
“The
prequels aside, because those are historical documents, what do we
really know about the ‘Alien’ universe? We know there’s a company
called Weyland-Yutani. We don’t know a lot more about it. We don’t know
what the government structure is, the politics of it, what’s Earth —
none of that. That’s liberating on some level to not have to thread
various needles. But the challenge is also that we’re only ever in these
artificial environments, the spaceship or a prison or whatever. What
does an apartment look like on ‘Alien’? That basic stuff of the palette
of ‘Alien,’ the design of that ship, that dripping is so specific. I
think that the sweaty aesthetic of ‘Alien’ plays very well into
climate change and the hot, wet future that we’re all moving toward.
Technology in the first two movies was rooted in the retro futurism of
the ’70s and ’80s. Is that our aesthetic? Those challenges really
excite me because I would much rather deal with computers that look
like that than holograms and feel like I’m in an Apple store.
“What’s
rooted in the horror of ‘Alien’ is discovery. The life cycle of this
creature, besides being insane, is truly terrifying. It’s an egg, and
inside that egg is a creature that attaches to your face. I’m already
out. But then that creature that attaches to your face lays another
creature inside of you — hold on a second. Then that creature bursts out
of your chest and grows to 9 feet tall? What is this creature? The
experience of watching “Alien” for the first time is so visceral; it
just gets worse and worse and worse and worse. [Director] James Cameron
was able to take that and turn it into an action movie in which you knew
what the life cycle was, so there was the horror of anticipation. But
who’s laying those eggs? So he added that other element to it. But after
that, there’s no discovery or surprise, we’re just doing that again and
again.
The challenge for me is: Is there a way that we can take
the audience back to “wait, what’s happening? What does this thing do?”
That was the first challenge. The second challenge, which is why I think
it justifies a show with multiple hours of storytelling, is that it’s
not just a monster movie. It’s about humanity trapped between this
primordial “they want to eat us” past and the AI future, and they’re
both trying to kill us. We’ve created these tools that are turning on
us, or if we program them correctly, we’ll go insane. Those elements of
humanity, artificial intelligence, trans-humanism — ‘what’s the future
of humanity?’ is a really interesting thing to talk about right now.
Combined with the revenge of nature — we’re experiencing that now as
weather or viruses or whatever. If we’re in a place where our
self-driving cars are gonna kill us, or we’re going to drown in them,
there’s a story to be placed in the middle of that.” (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-11-22/noah-hawley-fargo-season-5)
Christopher Marc for HN Entertainment: Last year I revealed a possible live-action series set in the Alien
universe in the very early development stages and could be heading
towards a streaming service. Well, it’s been a couple of months and I
have some exclusive updates to share.
There isn’t just one live-action Alien series in the works, but two of them.
According
to a source, one of them is said to have Ridley Scott as an executive
producer and is going to be for Hulu. I would imagine that his
production company Scott Free Productions would be involved as they’ve
had previous interests in television projects including Ridley’s current
project, an android series titled Raised By Wolves for TNT (which is
not Alien related and it’s another thing entirely) that is filming in
Cape Town, South Africa.
Details are scarce at the moment but there might be multiple seasons
that could tackle different corners/eras of the franchise, not unlike
Noah Hawley’s series Fargo.
In theory, I could see them possibly filling gaps in the franchise or
crafting brand new stories to tell within the Alien universe. It still
seems to be the very early days with these projects and I can’t exactly
speak to what they’ll be about at the moment.
The Disney-Fox merger is a couple of months away but that wouldn’t
stop from Fox developing their own in-house projects. Disney CEO Bob
Iger has also suggested in an earnings call recently that they’re open
to Fox continuing mature programming/franchises and we’ve already seen
Marvel Television launch four mature animated shows on Hulu with
M.O.D.O.K., Hit-Monkey, Tigra & Dazzler, and Howard The Duck. There
is a very good chance that we could see more mature projects from the
Fox side of things take root at Hulu, like this Alien series from Ridley
Scott.
After
the less than successful box office run of Alien: Covenant it could be
enough reason to pivot to television/streaming for the next little
while.
By the 29th of November, 2020, Noah made it known to the Deadline website that the Alien series wasn't something that he had been having a conversation about in the last few weeks,
But then it appeared that he was having conversations from time to time and he wasn't committed,
Then again he claimed that wasn't going to be someone surprised to see something like this series make its way onto the screen
DEADLINE: Are you still involved with the Alienreboot TV series? I understand deals are trying to be done.
HAWLEY:I know that there’s an effort to reshuffle a
lot of things post-Disney takeover and it was a conversation that I had
a couple years back. And I have not in the last few weeks been having
those conversations about it. But I know that like any studio that
there’s a great desire to make the most of one’s library so I wouldn’t
be surprised to see something like that.
DEADLINE: But you’re involved in it?
HAWLEY: Ya know, I have conversations from time to time, but I’m not committed.
DEADLINE: And there isn’t a hard conceit to it yet?
Disney Investor Day came on Thursday , 10th December 2020
An announcement was made by FX chief John Landgraf as part
of the Disney Investor Day presentation
He uttered the words "FX is moving quickly to bring audiences the first television series
based on one of the greatest science- fiction horror classics ever made:
‘Alien,'Alien’ will be helmed by ‘Fargo’ and
‘Legion’s’ Noah Hawley stepping into the creator/executive producer
chair, and FX is in advanced negotiations with Academy Award winner, Sir
Ridley Scott—director of the first ‘Alien’ film and the sequel, ‘Alien:
Covenant’—to join the project as an Executive Producer. Set not too far
into our future, it’s the first ‘Alien’ story set on Earth—and by
blending both the timeless horror of the first ‘Alien’ film with the
non-stop action of the second, it’s going to be a scary thrill ride that
will blow people back in their seats."
Breaking that down, it meant that Hawley would be set to write and executive
produce the series under his 26 Keys banner, with “Alien” mastermind
Ridley Scott in advanced talks to executive produce via Scott Free.
FX
Productions would produce.
John Landgraf said that FX was moving quickly to bring audiences the first television series based on one of the greatest science-fiction horror classics ever made: 'Alien', and that the series would be helmed by Noah Hawley well known for the 'Fargo' and 'Legion’ series, stepping into the creator/executive producer
chair,
Also it was mentioned that FX was in advanced negotiations with Sir
Ridley Scott to join the project as an Executive Producer.
It was to be set not too far
into our future, it was to be the first ‘Alien’ story set on Earth and by
blending both the timeless horror of the first ‘Alien’ film with the
non-stop action of the second.
It was going to be a scary thrill ride that
will blow people back in their seats.
Variety: The announcement was made Thursday by FX chief John Landgraf as part
of the Disney Investor Day presentation. Hawley will write and executive
produce the series under his 26 Keys banner, with “Alien” mastermind
Ridley Scott in advanced talks to executive produce via Scott Free. FX
Productions will produce. Per Landgraf, the show is “Set not too far
into our future, it’s the first ‘Alien’ story set on Earth.”
“FX is moving quickly to bring audiences the first television series
based on one of the greatest science- fiction horror classics ever made:
‘Alien,'” Landgraf said. “‘Alien’ will be helmed by ‘Fargo’ and
‘Legion’s’ Noah Hawley stepping into the creator/executive producer
chair, and FX is in advanced negotiations with Academy Award winner, Sir
Ridley Scott—director of the first ‘Alien’ film and the sequel, ‘Alien:
Covenant’—to join the project as an Executive Producer. Set not too far
into our future, it’s the first ‘Alien’ story set on Earth—and by
blending both the timeless horror of the first ‘Alien’ film with the
non-stop action of the second, it’s going to be a scary thrill ride that
will blow people back in their seats.” (https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/alien-series-noah-hawley-ridley-scott-fx-1234850109/)
d.i)Where the future human race stands
We could know that there was a Weyland-Yutani corporation, that there are these creatures that we know of as the alien, and well, we might ask about whether humanity has spread through the universe and the series might provide some answers.
d.ii) Words on how humanity is trapped
Noah's words turned to how the Alien movies were about humanity trapped between our primeordial, parasitic past and out artificial intelligence future, and they're both trying to kill us as the human race.
The human beings can't go forwards and they can't go back.
d.iii) Nothing to do with Ripley
If it should have something to do with the character Ripley, Noah made it clear that here it would have nothing to do with the character.
He had the need to say that She was one of the great characters of all time, and that her story has been told pretty perfectly, so he didn't want to mess with it.
Having said that, it was in a podcast from the 14th of June that he revealed have payed money to see Neil Blomkamp's Alien V that so far appeared to change the story of Ripley after Aliens
He has written a could of scripts so far and he was planning to make them in the coming spring.
He had seen how illuminating it was to see the entire film industry take a year off and they're not trying to jam two years of production into one year, and this meant that it was hard to plan something that could be made within the next six months.
At this point everyone was making up for lost time and so he would let the bubble that had developed burst a little.
d.iv) Aliens on the loose
Now he talked about how it would be a story set on Earth.
As he mentioned before, usually the Alien stories were
always as it were trapped, as in Alien trapped on a spaceship, or in a prison.
He thought that it would be
interesting to open the universe of Alien up a little bit so that the
stakes of “What happens if you can’t contain it?” are more immediate.
d.v) A story about inequality
On some level, it would be also a story about inequality.
Something
that impressed him about the original movie was how it was really a
blue collar space-trucker world in which Yaphet
Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton.
To him they were basically like Samuel
Beckett characters from Waiting for Godot who were ordered to go to a
place by a
faceless nameless corporation.
He saw how the sequel
Aliens was such an ’80s movie,
but still it was about grunts and thought that Paul Reiser as Burke was middle
management at best.
It was the story of the people who were sent to do the
dirty work.
In
his series, the viewers were going to see the people who are sending
them, and what happens when the inequality we’re struggling with in the
world of today wasn’t resolved.
So he was asking if we as a society
can’t figure out how to prop each
other up and spread the wealth, then what’s going to happen to us?
This would also echo Ripley's "which species is worst" comment to Burke.
Vanity Fair:What’s next for you? Is there a season five in the works forFargo?
Noah Hawley:Yeah, I think so. I don’t have it yet. I have pieces that will have to
survive. They’re not connected. I think it would be good to create an
ending, and deliberately come to something, knowing it’s the last one
and see how one might wrap up this anthology. What’s next for me, it
looks like, is [an] Alien series for FX, taking on that
franchise and those amazing films by Ridley Scott and James Cameron and
David Fincher. Those are great monster movies, but they’re not just
monster movies. They’re about humanity trapped between our primordial,
parasitic past and our artificial intelligence future—and they’re both
trying to kill us. Here you have human beings and they can’t go forward
and they can’t go back. So I find that really interesting.
Where are you in that process?
Noah Hawley: I’ve
written a couple of scripts, the first two scripts, and we’re looking
to make them next spring. When you get to something with this level of
visual effects, there’s a lot of preparation that has to go into it.
What’s been really illuminating is to see that the entire film industry
had to take a year off and they are now trying to jam two years of
production into one year. So it’s very hard to look on the planet earth
and see where you might make something in the next six months. Everyone
is racing to make up for lost time. So, I figure let that bubble burst a
little bit and we’ll do it right.
Is
there anything else you can share about it? Is it part of the Ripley
story, or will it be original characters in a different time and place?
Noah Hawley:It’s not
a Ripley story. She’s one of the great characters of all time, and I
think the story has been told pretty perfectly, and I don’t want to mess
with it. It’s a story that’s set on Earth also. The alien stories are
always trapped… Trapped in a prison, trapped in a space ship. I thought
it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of
“What happens if you can’t contain it?” are more immediate.
Vanity Fair: Deadly things that can’t be contained and the whole world at risk? Sounds relevant to the past year.
Noah Hawley: On
some level it’s also a story about inequality. You know, one of the
things that I love about the first movie is how ’70s a movie it is, and
how it’s really this blue collar space-trucker world in which Yaphet
Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton are basically Waiting for Godot.
They’re like Samuel Beckett characters, ordered to go to a place by a
faceless nameless corporation. The second movie is such an ’80s movie,
but it’s still about grunts. Paul Reiser is middle management at best. So, it is the story of the people you send to do the dirty work.
Vanity Fair: How does that relate to your series?
Noah Hawley:In
mine, you’re also going to see the people who are sending them. So you
will see what happens when the inequality we’re struggling with now
isn’t resolved. If we as a society can’t figure out how to prop each
other up and spread the wealth, then what’s going to happen to us?
There’s that great Sigourney Weaver line to Paul Reiser
where she says, “I don’t know which species is worse. At least they
don’t fuck each other over for a percentage.”
Pete Hammond: Are you involved in Aliens, bringing that into this kind of format (TV)
Noah Hawley: Yeah, that's a project that that came to me through FX as you know erm in, in the new, new Disney er shakeup. erm where the 'IDP' (?) goes erm and it's something that I was interested in when they, when they told me about it but you know, for better or worse which happens to me, when people say "But what about Aliens?" and I think "oh yeah, that's interesting," and then I think you could do this or you could do that, erm, and erm, so yes, we're still in early stages of of talking about it but erm you know it's it's such a, such a great world and and one of the seminal monsters , you know of film history that that, you know it's been interesting to ro play around with and see what I can do with it Pete Hammond:Yeah, and when you think of those films and who's been involved, Ridley Scott and James Cameron, and others, You know I can't wait to see what Noah Hawley will do you know having that handed to you and like in a sandbox there over at Disney/Fox or whatever the whole conglomerate it Noah Hawley: Yeah, you know that for five minutes, Neil Blomkamp was going to make an Alien movie, I would have payed to see that, that would be cool
It
will be fascinating to see what he brings to his new TV project, a
series based on the Alien franchise. It's going well, he says, in part
because there's plenty of creative space for new stories. "We know there's a Weyland-Yutani Corporation." he says"
We know there are these creatures. You don't really know anything
about, y'know, has humanity has spread throughout the universe?"
The series, he suggests, may provide some answers. We can probably
expect the idea of humanity creating its own AI monsters, too. (SFX Magazine, April 2022 )
Noah discussed with Esquire what was going on with his series.
It was set on Earth of the future, while FX chief John Landgraf would later be more specific to the point of saying that it was set near the end of the century which would be about seventy odd years into the future which would be right at the end of the 21st century
f.ii) Different megacorporation
As the Alien cinematic universe was domonated by large corporate
entities, with Weyland-Yutani as the one featured in the first three
films, there would be references to a different corporation in this
show, but it takes place in a the territory of a different corporation
that Noah invented
f.iii)Edison vs Westinghouse vs Tesla type scenario
Meanwhile Noah wanted to described it as Edison versus Westinghouse versus Tesla when it was a question about who was going to monopolize electricity and there was the question about which one it was
f.iv) Transhumanism concerns
So what if there are other companies trying to look at immortality in a different way, with cyborg enhancements or transhuman downloads, and which of those technologies is going to win.
This ultimately becomes a classic science fiction about whether humanity deserves to survive.
f.v)Thinking about planet in the future
Landgraf spoke of thinking forwards about the future of the planet in terms of environment, governance, technology and with that the creation and design of a version of the planet in the future
Esquire: FX's John Landgraf described your upcoming Alien
spin-off as “a beast,” and “a really big world-building exercise” for
you. What can you tell us about how the world-building exercise is
going?
Noah Hawley: It's going great. It's going slowly, unfortunately,
given the scale of it. I've made a certain business out of reinvention. Alien
is a fascinating story because it's not just a monster movie; it’s
about how we're trapped between the primordial past and the artificial
intelligence of our future, where both trying to kill us. It’s set on
Earth of the future. At this moment, I describe that as Edison versus
Westinghouse versus Tesla. Someone’s going to monopolize electricity. We
just don't know which one it is.
In the movies, we have this Weyland-Yutani
Corporation, which is clearly also developing artificial
intelligence—but what if there are other companies trying to look at
immortality in a different way, with cyborg enhancements or transhuman
downloads? Which of those technologies is going to win? It’s ultimately a
classic science fiction question: does humanity deserve to survive? As
Sigourney Weaver said in that second movie, “I don't know which species
is worse. At least they don't fuck each other over for a percentage.”
Even if the show was 60% of the best horror action on the planet,
there's still 40% where we have to ask, “What are we talking about it,
beneath it all?” Thematically, it has to be interesting. It’s humbling
to get to play with the iconography of this world. (https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a38591125/noah-hawley-anthem-alien-fargo-interview/Noah Hawley Is Venturing Into the Absurd With Anthem, Esquire by
Adrienne Westenfeld, )
As for the Alien storyline, Landgraf expressed a mix of
previously revealed and new thoughts about the project and confirmed the
story will not feature any characters from the franchise’s movie,
including Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver).
"Alien takes place before Ripley,” he said. “It’s the first story in the Alien
franchise that takes place on Earth. It takes place on our planet, near
the end of this century we’re currently in — 70-odd years from now."
“All I can tell you is Ripley won’t be a part of it, and neither will
any other characters — other than the alien itself,” he added. “Noah
has an incredible ability to both find a way of being faithful and
showing fidelity to an original creation, like to the Coen brothers
[with Fargo] or to Ridley Scott’s movie and James Cameron’s follow-up Aliens, but
also to bring something new that represents both an extension and
reinvention of a franchise at the same time. He’s done a masterful job
with Alien as he did with Fargo. There are some big surprises in store for the audience."
“I hope they will feel like it’s faithful
to the franchise they love but also a brave and original reinvention of
that franchise,” he continued. “Setting it on Earth is really
interesting. We have to think forward about the future of the planet in
terms of the environment, governance, technology and create and design a
version of the planet in the future … Noah wants to do that in a
distinctive and original way.”(Hollywood Reporter FX Gives New Details on ‘Alien’ TV Series, Teases “Big Surprises” February 17, 2022)
Noah Hawley’s long awaited Alien series will finally begin shooting this year.
"Noah is currently in production on the fifth season of Fargo but he’s in active preproduction on Alien, he’s written scripts,” said FX Boss John Landgraf providing an update at TCA on the long-in-the-works series.
“I think he’s meeting with his production designer in Austin this
weekend, gearing up for production this year after he completes the
fifth season of Fargo.”
At last year’s virtual TCA winter tour, Landgraf specified that Hawley’s Alien, “takes place before Ripley. It’s the first story that takes place in the Alien franchise on Earth.”
“It takes place on our planet. Right near the end of this century we’re in — so 70-odd years from now,” added Landgraf then.
“Ripley won’t be a part of it or any of the other characters of Alien other than the alien itself,” the exec said.
Hawley’s Alien series was first announced during the pandemic at the Disney Investor Day in December 2020.
The latest installment of Fargo is set in 2019, and asks the question: when is a kidnapping not a kidnapping, and what if your wife isn’t yours?
The series stars Juno Temple, Jon Hamm, Joe Keery, Lamorne Morris, and
Richa Moorjani. David Rysdahl, Sam Spruell, Jessica Pohly, Dave Foley
and Nick Gomez (Noah Hawley’s FX ‘Alien’ Series Gearing Up For Production This Year – TCA, (January 12, 2023 12:14pmhttps://deadline.com/2023/01/alien-fx-series-noah-hawley-tca-1235220100/)
Noah Hawley’s “Alien” series for FX
is finally starting to come into view after delays in filming. During
the ongoing TCA tour — virtual once more, yet again due to the ongoing
spread of Covid — FX chairman John Landgraf said that Hawley has turned
in all the scripts for the limited series spin on the sci-fi franchise.
It’s also confirmed to start shooting next year, and it also is going to mirror the tone of the ones that started it all, Ridley Scott’s 1979 “Alien” and James Cameron’s 1986 “Aliens.”
“I’m a big fan of ‘Alien’ and ‘Aliens’ and I remember watching both
of them in the theater and how shockingly original and surprising each
of them was in its own way,” Landgraf said. “And so, similar to his
approach to ‘Fargo,’ Noah decided to not take Ripley or any character
from Alien – except perhaps the xenomorph itself – but go back and
figure out what made the franchise so great and so durable in the first
place and see if he could find an experience that felt like walking into
a theater and seeing one of those first two movies, where you get
caught off guard.”
Keeping any specific details on the hush-hush, he concluded, “That’s all I can say at this point though.”
Asked if the Weyland-Yutani corporation of the original films factors
into this series, Landgraf said, “The ‘Alien’ cinematic universe is
that it’s a world that’s sort of dominated by large corporate entities,
and Weyland-Yutani has been an important component of the movies. There
are references to that corporation in this show. But it actually takes
place in the territory of a different corporation that Noah invented.”
The series will be a prequel to the original “Alien,” taking place
before Ripley ever graced the screen. The FX executive said that
Hawley’s show will take place on Earth at the end of the 21st century,
roughly 70 years from now. No characters from the original movies will
be involved.
“Alien” was originally to shoot last year, but Hawley and FX ended up
prioritizing the fifth season of their anthology series “Fargo,” which
Landgraf said at the TCAas will be more comedic in tone. “It’s always a
balance between how dramatic versus comedic it is, and this is the more
comedic end of the spectrum. I really love it.” This season stars Juno
Temple, Jon Hamm, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
"Look, a two-hour movie, you can set it up and then it's just about,
'Are they going to survive?' But if you're making a series, 'Are they
going to survive?', you can't sustain it. Even if you have 60% of the
best action-horror on television, you still have 40% of 'What are we
talking about?'" Hawley explained. "What is this moment on Earth,
technology-wise? And where are we? And the question science-fiction
always tends to ask is, does humanity deserve to survive? So that seems
like a really interesting question to continue to explore." (https://www.cbr.com/alien-series-inspired-by-movie-moment/)
How Ian Holm's Ash Inspired the Series
Hawley confirmed that part of the Alien series will be
exploring AI, which has roots in the franchise dating back to the
original film. In that movie, Ian Holm's Ash is revealed to be an
android, marking one of the more memorable twists in the entire film
series. Hawley said that specific scene was a key moment that inspired
the upcoming TV show, providing another hint about the plot. He also
spoke about how he's going to play around with the structure established
by the films (https://www.cbr.com/alien-series-inspired-by-movie-moment/)
"And then it always mimics the life cycle of the creature, right? Which
is egg, slow, Facehugger, starts to get faster — you know what I mean?
And of course, that's great for a horror movie to build that way. So I
found a way to kind of innovate around that structure and play with it,"
he said. (https://www.cbr.com/alien-series-inspired-by-movie-moment/)
h) By February 17th 2022, Landgraft revealed that he was looking for shoot another series of Fargo in the winter of 2022, and that it would be shot before the Alien TV series.
But as it went, ther were more scripts for Alien than there were for Fargo. But Noah was writing both, sending Landgraf so far one for Fargo and five for the Alien TV series
“Hollywoodreporter: "We need to shoot Fargo this winter, so we’ll be shooting Fargo before Alien, though we have more scripts for Alien than Fargo,” Landgraf said. “Noah is writing both right now.”
i) January 12th 2023, at the Televison Critics Association
press tour, the FX chief Landgraf revealed that the series was set to begin pre-production in the near future once Hawley finishes with the
fifth season of “Fargo.”
In fact he
was aware of the possibility that Noah Hawley would be meeting with his
production designer that weekend in Austin,
While Hawley was also writer, he would be executive producing the series under his 26 Keys banner
Variety: This is the biggest development announced for Hawley’s “Alien” show in
some time. Most recently, FX boss John Landgraf said that the show would
begin production “this year” at the 2023 Televison Critics Association
press tour in January.
“I think he’s meeting with his production designer in Austin this
weekend, gearing up for production this year after he completes the
fifth season of ‘Fargo,'” Landgraf said at the time. He also confirmed
that the character of Ellen Ripley is not featured in the show, which
will instead focus on entirely new characters. Hawley is writing and
executive producing the series under his 26 Keys banner.( Variety ‘Alien’ Series From Noah Hawley at FX Casts Sydney Chandler in Lead Role May 1, 2023 3:30pm PT)
j) May 1, 2023 News that Sydney Chandler has been cast, and so on
By July 12th 2023, it is asked how would the the SAG-AFTRA actors strike affect the TV series.
As it went, the Alien TV series was currently in pre-productiion in Thailand.
The show was being said to be a large-scale undertaking that booked out multiple Bangkok studios and hired vast quantities of lighting equipment.
The cast was a mix of SAG-AFTRA and Equity members, with two of the main leads believed to be SAG-AFTRA members.
What that meant was the production would need to work around the absence of key cast members.
He was able to film most of the first hour but wasn't able to film anything with his star.
His conversation with The Wrap in a November article revealed that he still had seven more hours to shoot
Noah Hawley: I was able to complete filming most of the first hour. That said, I
wasn’t able to film anything with my star. So I still have the bulk of
the show to film, and we have seven more hours to shoot, I certainly would have loved to get the show in front of people as
quickly as possible.(https://www.thewrap.com/alien-noah-hawley-series-premiere-window-2025-fx/ 8th November 2023 )
Collider: Noah Hawley's Alien series, which is being produced by FX, is in the very early stages of production after work on the show had ground to a halt
in late August due to the effects of the SAG-AFTRA strike. However, now
that 2024 is here, the series is about to be in full flow in Thailand,
when shooting will take place, the exciting news for Alien fans is that it will take place over multiple seasons. It will star Timothy Olyphant,Essie Davis, Alex Lawther and Sydney Chandler, among others. (collider https://collider.com/alien-series-multiple-seasons/, January 2024)
Collider: Lastly,
when asked if he planned to step behind the camera for
multiple episodes of the show, or if he planned to let others take the
lead, Hawley admitted it was too early to tell, coming off the back end
of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, but that he was thrilled at the
prospect of getting behind the camera on such an ambitious project. (collider https://collider.com/alien-series-multiple-seasons/, January 2024)
Variety: FX’s “Alien,”
a series adaptation of the “Alien” franchise written by Noah Hawley and
Ridley Scott, is currently in pre-production in Thailand. Sources
indicate the show will be a large-scale undertaking that’s reportedly
booked out multiple Bangkok studios and hired vast quantities of
lighting equipment.
.
Noah had talked with Ridley about where to go with Alien and the many elements of the the TV show that Noah was creating
He had decided that the alien creature of the series referred to as a "perfect life form" was the product of millions of years of evolution and this thing may have existed for million yeas out there in space.
If one took the movie Alien: Covenant to be the starting poin of the alien creature's existence, he thought that its creation then by David the android to be far too recent for him and so he found that idea didn't have any use for him.
He made the statement that Ridley made the technology thousands of years more advanced than the technology of Alien
Alien's Nostromo sets had been designed at the time to be rough prediction of where NASA technology was going one hundred years into the future using the materials that they had could get there hands on from the then today of 1970s. Dan O'Bannon and Ron Cobb were using all of their scientific inventiveness to advise on how everything seem as real as possible.
k.ii) Alien and Aliens "Retrofuturim"
Noah would see the Alien and Aliens' sets as retrofuturism with giant computer monitors with weird keyboad and preferred this retrofuturism. In hindsight perhaps it might seem all retrofuturistic since there sets were made from a materials existing in the laer 1970s. then of course Ridley Scott used the same style of thinking for the sets and visible technology of Alien in the film Blade Runner released in 1982, which was designed to look predict the future 40 years ahead but would be often be labeled as "retrofuturistic" anyway.
Where Aliens stands in terms of retrofuturism is another thing because it played with the idea of the past of Vietnam and projected that into the distant future se over five decades after Alien
With Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, Noah would imagine that the technology there was thousands of years more advanced than the technology seen in Alien and Aliens, and it didn't compute for him.
k.iii) A set like the Nostromo
He was able to walk onto a certain set in the production and it seemed to raise the hair on the back on his neck in a good way feeling as if he was on the Nostromo from the movie Alien, with the set inspired by the design, and he liked to think that he was in the movie.”
k.iv) A show without holograms
There would be no holograms or the convenience of what he would perceive as "that beautiful Apple store" technology seen in Prometheus and Alien Covenant.
k.v) Ridley's involvement
With Scott Free producing the Alien series, and Ridley making two or three movies a year, he would allow Noah to pick his bain about all of his thoughs, process, decisions, and things that he had learnt. He would try to keep Ridley in the loop, sending him materal so that Ridley could feel respected and included while still doing his own thing.
Eric Deggans: So, as a bona fide scifi nerd or a blurred if you will, black nerd, I've got to ask you about Alien, man. What can you tell us about the TV series that you're crafting that you were to shoot a fair amount of before you had to stop in August. Ah, what can you tell us about this show man. Us Alien fans are chomping it a bit. we really are
Noah Hawley:You know, I think we talked earlier what I think about I know I have enough for a Fargo story, you know there have to be enough elements to it, and if it were just a monster movie, I don't think there would be enough there, but we're talking about one of the great monsters of all time. but when you think about making 20, 30, 40 hours of something, when you think of 60% of the best horror action around 40 % of whatever we're talking about , what's the show about, you know. radically character-wise, it has to exist as a drama outside of those other elements, so that was the challenge for me, you know and I think if I have a skill at this niche that I've carved for myself imagining great films in long form, a sort of understanding how the movie made me feel and how to create that feeling in others while telling a totally different story, right and the thing that with Alien is that it's not just a great monster movie, a story of humanity trapped between its parasitic past and the idea of the future and they're both trying to kill us, and so there's nowhere to go and so it's really a story of does humanity deserve to survive, you know, does humanity's arrogance think we're no longer food and its arrogance these AI beings who we thnk will do what we tell them but might ultimately lose their minds. You know, is there a way out? There’s a moment in the second movie where Sigourney says “I don’t know which species is worse, but at least they don’t screw each other over for a percentage.” You know, I think there’s something really intriguing about that idea for me, you know, which is about an exploration of humanity in all its goods and evils and that trying to recreate for an audience those feelings that you had in watching those two films isn’t easy in a franchise that had four subsequent films and, and another film coming out soon, but I think that I have some tricks up my sleeve
Eric Deggans: So, will this connect at all to the recent films that we saw, you know, Ridley Scott and the folks who worked on the I think last two alien movies provided a lot of back story about how the alien got created, and who was sitting in that chair in the very first movie, erm. Are you paying any attention to that or for you does that thought exist?
Noah Hawley: You know, I think, and Ridley and I have talked about this — and many, many elements of the
show,” You know, I think For me, and for a lot of people, this ‘perfect life
form’ — as it was described in the first film — is the product of
millions of years of evolution that created this creature that may have
existed for a million years out there in space. you know, and the idea that, on some
level, it was a bioweapon created half an hour ago, that’s just
inherently less useful to me you know what I mean. And in terms of the mythology, what’s
scary about this monster, is that when you look at those first two
movies, you have this retro-futuristic technology. You have giant
computer monitors, these weird keyboards, you know you're asking me You have to make a choice. Am
I doing that? Because in the prequels, Ridley made the technology
thousands of years more advanced than the technology of Alien,
which is supposed to take place in those movies’ future. There’s
something about that that doesn’t really compute for me. I prefer the
retro-futurism of the first two films. And so that’s the choice I’ve
made to embrace that— there’s no holograms. The convenience of that beautiful Apple
store technology is not available to me.” (https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/noah-hawley-alien-series-prometheus-backstory-not-useful-1235871454/)
Noah Hawley:I think that's a hard one just because we had the strike, so we're
figuring that out. But it's thrilling to get behind the camera again,
and to get behind the camera on this and to do something that's much bigger and in the science fiction genre, playing with the elements that we all know from Alien. It's really thrilling." (collider https://collider.com/alien-series-multiple-seasons/, January 2024)
The Wrap:"It’s very exciting that I get this opportunity, with films like ‘Fargo’
or ‘Alien,’ to live within the world that was created by these
directors and storytellers. It raises the hair on the back of your neck
in a good way to walk onto a set where you feel like you’re on the
‘Nostromo,’” Hawley said before clarifying that his series does not
actually take place on the “USCSS Nostromo” but on a set that was
inspired by the design of the original film. “You’re like, ‘Oh my god,
I’m in the movie.’”https://www.thewrap.com/alien-noah-hawley-series-premiere-window-2025-fx/
Hollywood Reporter: What is Ridley Scott’s involvement in the TV show? Having directed the film, is he involved?
Noah Hawley:I mean, are the Coens involved in Fargo?Let’s
just say, I’ve probably had more conversations with Ridley than I’ve had with Joel and Ethan. Scott Free [Productions] is producing Alien
and Ridley is making two or three movies a year is basically how that’s working. I mean, Ridley has been an amazing collaborator to the degree
that I can pick his brain about all of his thoughts, processes, decisions and the things that he’s learned. And I try to keep him [in
the loop] and send him material so that he feels respected and included.
But also, he’s doing his thing. (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/noah-hawley-fargo-alien-star-trek-1235646824
"Alien: The TV series" was first posted 25th September 2020,and then was updated significantly on 10th December 2020 when news came that the series was confirmed. I've come back to edit the text again to make it more coherent
"Alien: The TV series" was first posted 25th September 2020,and then was updated significantly on 10th December 2020 when news came that the series was confirmed. I've come back to edit the text again to make it more coherent
ReplyDeleteUpdated with information from the Vanity fair interview from 1st July 2021 and the Deadline interview from 14th June 2021
ReplyDeleteAdded details from "Noah Hawley Is Venturing Into the Absurd With Anthem," Esquire by Adrienne Westenfeld, Jan 4, 2022
ReplyDelete