Alien: Earth Episode 5 Theory Hints at an Ancient Xenomorph Enemy

This article contains spoilers for Alien: Earth episode 5.

As Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth hurtles into its second half faster than the USCSS Maginot barreled toward Prodigy City, was anyone expecting the Fargo director to give us an unexpected Alien movie worthy of Ridley Scott himself? While both Scott’s Prometheus and Alien: Covenant were accused of veering away from the vibe of 1979’s original, Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus was much closer in tone. This pales in comparison to Alien: Earth’s fifth episode, which feels like it could’ve easily segued to Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley stepping out of her cryo pod on the Nostromo.

The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it inclusion of the Maginot crew in Alien: Earth’s first episode teased there were more gaps to fill in ahead of Kumi Morrow (Babou Ceesay) shielding himself in the impact room, and proving it was worth the wait, “In Space, No One…” played on Alien’s infamous tagline of, “In space, no one can hear you scream.” The show has already tightened up the sometimes sprawling timeline of the Alien movies, giving the jaw-dropping reveal that Weyland-Yutani already knew about the existence of xenomorphs before it sent the doomed crew of the Nostromo to LV-426.

Alien: Earth might feel like Alien in aesthetic, but it hammers home the idea of the show’s real villain(s) – and it’s not the senomorphs. In a twist worthy of the reveal that Ian Holm’s Ash was a company-controlled android in Alien, Morrow learns that there’s a traitor aboard the Maginot in the form of Enzo Cilenti’s Petrovich. An Agatha Christie-inspired mystery unfolds when Morrow and the awoken Maginot grunts try to figure out who had sabotaged the ship. It culminates in a final act revealing that Petrovich had only been pretending to be in stasis and was working for Samuel Blenkin’s Boy Kavalier to bring Weyland-Yutani’s alien specimens to Prodigy.

The first half of Alien: Earth has already cemented the boy genius as a corporate villain, who Hawley told The Hollywood Reporter could be a nod to a certain tech billionaire he stops short of naming. Whereas the future of the franchise means we know Weyland-Yutani will remain focused on harnessing the power of the Xenomorph, Prodigy’s future (if there is one) has its “eyes” on a very different prize. Kavalier has developed something of an obsession with the Trypanohyncha Ocellus eyeball monster, which is currently embedded in a sheep at his island lab. Episode 5 is set before this, showcasing an interesting conflict between the classic xeno and this new species. There’s an action-packed fight aboard the bridge of the Maginot, with the xenomorph battling a T. Ocellus that’s embedded in the brain of engineer Shmuel (Michael Smiley)

There are several important takeaways here, particularly how the T. Ocellus uses Shmuel’s vocal cords to summon the xenomorph with its classic chittering. Alien: Earth has already cleared up some confusion about how xenomorphs communicate, possibly suggesting a hive mind mentality and some sort of connection to Sydney Chandler’s MVP, Wendy. If the T. Ocellus is able to communicate with the xenomorph, it’s either been studying them closely or already has an innate knowledge of the acid-bleeding beasts.

Over on Reddit, fans have theorized that the xenomorphs and the T. Ocellus have a long-held rivalry similar to the one that was played out between xenos and Yautja in (the non-canon) Alien vs. Predator. Hawley said that he only took Alien and Aliens into account, but remember that Prometheus depicted a xenomorph-looking creature inside the Engineer facility on LV-233. Many accept that they’re an ancient species that wasn’t inadvertently created by Michael Fassbender’s David, meaning xenomorphs and T. Ocellus could’ve been fighting for eons. Adding to the theory, some have posited that xenomorphs have evolved without eyes to avoid attacks from the T. Ocellus. As one person says: “Is it just a coincidence that the xenomorphs have no eyes? Or are they that way because of T. Occelus, like are they natural enemies?” Others have noted that the xenomorph’s infamous inner mouth looks like it would be perfectly evolved to pluck an eyeball from a socket. 

Even though xenomorphs have shown impressive levels of ingenuity over the 46 years we’ve been watching Alien movies, are they being outsmarted by a conniving eyeball? “In Space, No One…” also features the T. Ocellus trying to warn Karen Aldridge’s Chibuzo about an escaping Blood Tick (or potentially distract her), whereas the eyeball calling the xenomorph to the bridge gave Morrow and Zaveri (Richa Moorjani) more time to try to escape. 

Even if the T. Ocellus might not be a wholly malevolent creature, it’s surely out for its own gain. There are already calls to see what would happen if a T. Ocellus took a Predator as a host, but as long as we don’t see the optical abomination teaming up with Wendy and the synthetics to become the “hero” of Alien: Earth, the franchise could finally have an enemy that gives the Xenomorph a run for its money in terms of terror.