Noah Hawley's Alien TV Series Will Ignore Two Movies In The Series - Here's Why

Like Michael Biehn's Hicks said in "Aliens," "If even one of those things gets down here, it's all over!" That's the precise premise for Noah Hawley's upcoming prequel series "Alien," which will see everyone's favorite chest-bursting intruder arriving on Earth. Of course, looking into the past, the xenomorph's history has already been explored with Ridley Scott's two return trips to space — "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant." Now, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Hawley has highlighted that those specific chapters, while loved by some in the "Alien" fandom, won't be a point of reference for his story.

Instead, it seems a lot of focus will be on the horrifying tale that started it all, given that his show will be set a mere 70 years in our current future, before the first film. "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," said Hawley, who confirmed he'd spoken with Scott directly about what he planned to use as a jumping off point. "The idea that, on some level, it was a bioweapon created half an hour ago, that's just inherently less useful to me." 

Sticking to this time frame, Hawley hopes to avoid an era in the "Alien" timeline and its technology that doesn't quite click with him.

Even now, after 45 years, there's something about the hiss of the Nostromo hatch doors or Mother's million lights that can't be beaten. For some, it's what made the streamlined, highly advanced tech shown in "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant" a little odd. Comparing the prequels with Scott's classic scare-fest from 1979, Hawley said, "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 — there's no holograms." So what, then? Are we going to see Hawley's cast in clunky spaceman outfits like the good old days? Hawley admitted, "The convenience of that beautiful Apple store technology is not available to me."

What'll be interesting to see is how this will look alongside the other project centered on the terrifying locals of LV-426. While Hawley will be handling his own "Alien" tale starring Timothy Olyphant, "Don't Breathe" director Fede Álvarez will be bringing us "Alien: Romulus," set for release on August 16, 2024. Its star Cailee Spaeny spoiled the movie's surprising place in the franchise timeline, revealing it would be shoehorned between Scott's "Alien" and James Cameron's "Aliens." Perfect. While we don't want to count our eggs before they've hatched and latched on to our faces, the way things are going, it's a great time to be an "Alien" fan.