'Alien' TV Series Coming To FX From Noah Hawley, Ridley Scott In Talks To Executive Produce

Just the other day I wrote up a story with Noah Hawley saying that his idea for an Alien TV show wasn't happening. Well, it looks like he lied! Because during the big Disney Investor Day presentation it was announced an Alien TV series from Hawley is indeed on the way. Hawley will write and executive produce the series and Alien franchise director Ridley Scott is in advanced talks to executive produce. It will be set "not too far into our future," and also be set on Earth – a first for the franchise.

In a recent interview, Noah Hawley was asked about an Alien TV show he pitched a while back. He replied: "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." When pressed as to whether he still had any involvement with the idea, Hawley replied: "I have conversations from time to time but I'm not committed."

Now it turns out Hawley was playing coy. During today's big Disney Investor Day presentation, FX chief John Landgraf revealed an Alien TV series from Hawley is indeed on the way. "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," Landgraf said. "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."

Setting the show on Earth is certainly an interesting twist, although I just want to point out the Xenomorphs from the franchise have been on earth before – in the film Alien vs. Predator and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. But it's okay to pretend those movies don't exist since they're kind of bad. In the past, Hawley offered some insight into what he pitched, saying:

 "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!'"