How Alien: Earth Season 2 Can Follow in Aliens’ Footsteps

This article contains spoilers for Alien: Earth episode 8.

The true horrors of Neverland have finally been unleashed, and in the Alien: Earth finale, showrunner Noah Hawley ensures the episode lives up to its namesake of “The Real Monsters”. While Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and the rest of the Lost Boys realized their adult carers were just as dangerous as the Alien franchise’s titular xenomorphs, it wasn’t long before Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) and Prodigy were losing control like Weyland-Yutani in Ridley Scott’s original 1979 movie. There’s already plenty of talk about where things could go in season 2, and while Hawley is known for the anthology style of FX’s Fargo, Alien: Earth looks poised to pick up these dangling plot threads.

The Alien: Earth season 1 finale ends with Wendy declaring, “Now we rule,” flanked by two xenomorphs and the other four hybrids by her side. Poignantly set to Pearl Jam’s “Animal,” Kavalier is locked up in a holding pen with Timothy Olyphant’s brilliant Kirsh, Ade Edmondson’s Atom Eins, Essie Davis’ Dame Sylvia, and Babou Ceesay’s Morrow. It looks like the Peter Pan analogies will be over when we head into the inevitable season 2, with Wendy declaring Kavalier was never the boy who never grew up, and Curly (Erana James) reclaiming her name as Jane. While it would be possible to leave the story here, the real stinger for season 2 involves the imminent arrival of Sandra Yi Sencindiver’s Yutani the Younger.

It took a long time for fans to get an Alien sequel, but in 1986, James Cameron finally delivered Aliens, which is held by some as superior to Scott’s OG. Playing out as much more of an action-focused outing, the movie involved Alien heroine Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) returning to LV-426 with a platoon of Weyland-Yutani grunts to rescue the colonists of Hadley’s Hope. This turned out to be a cover for the megacorporation to try and seize control of the xenomorphs with the help of company exec Carter Burke (Paul Reiser).

With Ms. Yutani in tow, it’s clear Weyland-Yutani is trying to reclaim is missing species, although the fact she doesn’t appear in Alien (set two years after Alien: Earth season 1) or any subsequent media suggests things won’t end well for her. Similarly, it’s surely no coincidence that Kavalier’s Prodigy hasn’t materialized in any of the expanded franchise offerings. Does this mean both Ms. Yutani and Prodigy are doomed to go the way of Aliens’ USS Sulaco crew?

Even though Alien: Earth is yet to be officially renewed, Hawley has put an importance on Yutani’s arrival. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the creator explained: “This chapter is closed, but Yutani troops are landing. The balance of power has shifted. These children have no idea what’s coming.” Reiterating how Wendy’s final line about ruling might seem “triumphant,” he added, “Cut to 10 minutes later … what is going to be happening? So I like that it has that real-time urgency to it.” The fact Yutani herself is on the ship also gives us flavors of Lance Henriksen’s Charles Bishop Weyland and a similar character respectively going on equally perilous missions in Alien vs. Predator and Alien 3. Considering Boy Kavalier is currently incapacitated, expect Yutani to replace him as the corporate villain of season 2. 

It’s true that Alien: Earth season2 can’t be completely like Aliens because Wendy is the closest thing we have to a Ripley, although the idea of grunts storming a ravaged corporate base could easily play out in a similar style. The question is: is the real danger from Boy’s rogue hybrids or does the xenomorph still reign supreme? One of season one’s big complaints is the idea that Wendy can communicate with the xenos. We saw this in action when she set the camouflaged “Bear” xeno on Prodigy’s men, with critics calling out the idea as similar to Alien: Resurrection’s maligned arc where Ripley became a surrogate to a monstrous human/xeno hybrid. The Lost Boys are already OP additions to the franchise (especially with Wendy at the helm), but Hawley warned TV Insider that we shouldn’t consider the xenomorph their ally: “This xenomorph, this great white shark, this alien monster could be good, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, I don’t think so.’ I think maybe you could create an ally out of it, maybe it’s a pet for a while, but we’ve seen how that goes with wild animals.”

Hawley has previously admitted that Cameron didn’t consult on Alien: Earth, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t already taken some cues from it. Referring to the twist where Wendy can seemingly communicate with the xenomorphs, Hawley told The Hollywood Reporter: “There’s that moment in Cameron’s film where the queen communicates with the drones. Is that a pheromone? Is it telekinetic? Is that a frequency we can’t hear? We don’t know, but that always seemed really interesting as something to explore.” 

Whereas Alien: Earth season 1 had a full-blown episode as a nod to Alien, the Aliens references were limited to the likes of a repeat of Hicks’ “stay frosty,” Newt’s “can I dream?,” and some familiar-looking weaponry. Still, as fans and Hawley alike wait for Alien: Earth to get the green light on season 2, here’s hoping he’s got James Cameron on speed dial to potentially up the action next time around. 

All eight episodes of Alien: Earth are available to stream on Hulu now.