Alien Earth TV Series: Plot, Cast & Season 2 Updates

By Janno Vares, Founder & Editor, covering Alien vs. Predator since 2001
March 08, 2025 | Updated September 14, 2026

Alien: Earth is a television series set in the Alien universe and created by Noah Hawley for FX. The first season premiered in 2025 as the franchise's first live-action television series, and it brought the Xenomorph threat to Earth. Set in 2120, the story follows the Prodigy hybrid Wendy after the USCSS Maginot crashes with alien specimens.

Alien: Earth Season 2

Wendy and the Lost Boys from the end of Alien Earth's Season 1

FX renewed Alien: Earth for a second season in November 2025 and moved production from Thailand, where Season 1 was shot, to Pinewood Studios in London. An earlier May 2026 start date slipped, and filming was underway by July. In September, official social accounts posted a short set video whose clapperboard was dated July 2026, credited director Alex Garcia Lopez and cinematographer Ed Moore, and labeled the unit Yutani. The clip showed Babou Ceesay, soldiers, Sydney Chandler as Wendy, and a Chestburster.

Noah Hawley has described Season 2 as a larger show with more world-building. It continues from the Season 1 ending on Neverland, after Wendy and the Lost Boys took the island and Weyland-Yutani ships were arriving. The next stretch covers the five companies and what happens after the island can no longer hold the specimens. No official plot synopsis or premiere date has been released, and the season is not expected before 2027.

Season 2 Cast

Peter Dinklage, who joined Alien: Earth for Season 2

In April 2026, FX announced that Peter Dinklage had joined Alien: Earth as a series regular. Noah Hawley called the part a major role. Character details have not been released.

In July 2026, as cameras started in London, FX added Tracey Ullman, Sam Spruell, and Jerome Flynn. Spruell had worked with Hawley on Fargo. Flynn appeared with Dinklage on Game of Thrones. Their characters have not been named.

Confirmed returning players include Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Timothy Olyphant, Essie Davis, Babou Ceesay, Samuel Blenkin, Adarsh Gourav, Jonathan Ajayi, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Adrian Edmondson, David Rysdahl, Moe Bar-El, and Sandra Yi Sencindiver.

Early Teaser Trailer

In January 2025, FX released the first teaser trailer for Alien: Earth. The short clip used the franchise alarm from the original Alien teaser. A creature broke out of a containment pod and drifted through the zero-gravity corridors of the USCSS Maginot. Alarms sounded and the ship's computer issued warnings as the vessel fell toward Earth's atmosphere. The teaser ends with the creature hitting a window, then an exterior shot of the Maginot on fire as it drops toward the surface.

Setting And Season 1 Plot

A teaser image for the FX Alien series, featuring an Alien egg and a city on Earth

Alien: Earth is set on Earth in the year 2120, two years before the first Alien movie and 22 years before Alien: Romulus. FX chairman John Landgraf first placed the story "right near the end of this century," and later materials locked the date at 2120. The USCSS Nostromo left Earth for Thedus in that same year. The Alien vs. Predator movies had put Xenomorphs on Earth before, but the Alien timeline headed by Ridley Scott does not use those events. Season 1 followed the Maginot, a Weyland-Yutani research freighter that crashed in Prodigy City carrying five alien specimens, including Xenomorph eggs and Facehuggers. Prodigy and Weyland-Yutani both tried to control those organisms. The season ended on Neverland after Wendy and the Lost Boys took the facility, and Wendy's last line was "Now we rule."

A Viral Campaign About The USCSS Maginot

The contents of the Secret USCSS Maginot crate

In March 2025, FX Networks sent a USCSS Maginot crate to several Alien fansites, including AvP Central. A Prodigy data drive inside it held five video recordings from the ship before the crash, including Morrow in hypersleep and the ship's cat Rascal. Season 1 later showed Morrow as a cyborg and the Maginot's chief of security, not an android.

The Five Corporations

Alien: Earth is set in a time when five corporations — Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic, and Threshold — hold the power of nations. Weyland-Yutani remains the oldest of those houses, while other mega-corporations have appeared in earlier Alien stories. Season 1 spends most of its time on the Prodigy and Weyland-Yutani fight over the Maginot specimens.

Main Cast

The first season's ensemble centered on Wendy, the Lost Boys, and the Prodigy and Weyland-Yutani staff who fought over the Maginot specimens.

Wendy (Sydney Chandler) - The first Prodigy hybrid, formerly Marcy Hermit. She led the Lost Boys and ended Season 1 in control of Neverland.
Joe Hermit (Alex Lawther) - Wendy's human brother and a Prodigy medic who survived the Maginot crash in New Siam and the later fight on the island.
Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant) - A Prodigy synthetic and chief scientist who trained the hybrids and studied the specimens brought off the wreck.
Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) - Founder of Prodigy and the world's youngest trillionaire, who ran the Hybrid program on Neverland.
Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis) - A Prodigy scientist and therapist assigned to the Lost Boys.
Morrow (Babou Ceesay) - A Weyland-Yutani cyborg and the Maginot's chief of security, the only crew member who survived the crash.
Slightly (Adarsh Gourav) - A Lost Boy hybrid whom Morrow pressured into helping deliver a human host to the eggs.
Smee (Jonathan Ajayi) - A Lost Boy hybrid and Slightly's closest companion on Neverland.
Curly (Erana James) - A Lost Boy hybrid who challenged Kavalier's favoritism toward Wendy.
Nibs (Lily Newmark) - A Lost Boy hybrid whom Prodigy reset after the crash. She later joined Wendy's break from the island.
Tootles (Kit Young) - A Lost Boy hybrid who renamed himself Isaac and was killed by the fly specimens in the Neverland lab.
Atom Eins (Adrian Edmondson) - Kavalier's aide, later shown to be a synthetic.
Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl) - A Prodigy scientist and Dame Sylvia's husband, killed when a Xenomorph tore out of him.
Ms. Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) - Head of the Yutani side of Weyland-Yutani, who arrived at Neverland as Season 1 ended.
Rashidi (Moe Bar-El) - A Prodigy soldier who entered the Maginot wreck with Hermit's team.
Siberian (Diem Camille) - A Prodigy soldier partnered with Hermit. She was killed in Season 1 and is not on the Season 2 return list.

Production

Noah Hawley created the series and serves as showrunner. Ridley Scott, who directed the 1979 film, is an executive producer. Season 1 was filmed in Thailand, and Season 2 is at Pinewood Studios in London, where Alien, Alien 3, and Prometheus were also shot. In 2026 the first season received four Emmy nominations, for cinematography, science-fiction costumes, sound editing, and visual effects. It did not win.

Season 1 was designed by Andy Nicholson, and Season 2 moved to Neil Lamont, son of Peter Lamont, who designed Aliens. Noah Hawley directed two Season 1 episodes, including the premiere, and is not directing Season 2.

Where to Watch

Alien: Earth premiered on FX in August 2025, with eight episodes through late September, and was also released through Hulu and other Disney streaming platforms. That followed Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Studios, which brought the Alien franchise under its television and streaming divisions. No official American Blu-ray or UHD release has been announced.

Conclusion

Alien: Earth is the first live-action television series in the Alien franchise. Season 1, set in 2120, covered the Maginot crash, Wendy and the Lost Boys, and the fight between Prodigy and Weyland-Yutani. Season 2 is filming in London, with Peter Dinklage, Tracey Ullman, Sam Spruell, and Jerome Flynn added to the cast, and is not expected before 2027. A possible Alien Romulus sequel is in development on a separate track.