Ancient Aliens: Everything We Know So Far
Even if you've never watched The History Channel series "Ancient Aliens," you've definitely seen the memes with wild-haired producer/talking head Giorgio Tsoukalos. They're the ones that say some version of, "I'm not saying it was aliens ... but it was aliens." The show has been going strong for 18 seasons, and now we're getting a movie version from Legendary Entertainment.
If you have somehow managed to avoid this "docuseries," it's based on a two-hour broadcast of the same name that aired in 2009. "Ancient Aliens" posits the theory that many of the ancient structures, items, and events that society has struggled to explain over the centuries are the work of extraterrestrials.
Here's the idea in a fictional conversation: "Ooh, the Egyptian pyramids are cool! They must have been hard to build. I wonder ... " "It was aliens." "But wait, we can explain the early Egyptian building techniques with science." "Nope. Definitely aliens." "But people from the past were as smart as we are ... " "Shut up. It was aliens. It's always aliens."
Let's dive into what we know about the "Ancient Aliens" film.
What we think Ancient Aliens will be about
There isn't a whole lot of information available about the project, which was announced back in 2021. THR, which reported a change in writers on July 7, 2022, says this will be, "a two-handed, globe-spanning adventure featuring ancient sites and artifacts and will involve the theories and questions raised by the docuseries."
That doesn't give us a whole lot to go on. Will this be an adventure tale, a la "Raiders of the Lost Ark"" They do examine the Ark of the Covenant in the series. Perhaps we'll get a team of investigators who think they're looking for one story, and end up uncovering an ancient visit from outer space. Maybe it will be a team that disproves the space visitors theory and remembers that rich cultures full of intelligent people can come up with some magnificent things that we just haven't found complete evidence for yet. Since this story will be "globe-spanning," we can speculate about some of the things we'll see beyond maybe the pyramids and the Ark. Perhaps it will be the Nazca Lines, Stonehenge, or the statues on Easter Island. The show has tackled cattle mutilations, pole shifts, and ley lines. There is so very much to choose from.
If you want a little background, the series was largely based on the writings of Eric von Däniken, who wrote the book "Chariots of the Gods" which speculated that aliens visited Earth in prehistoric times and we learned much about technology and architecture from them. Of course. How could our wee brains have come up with that on our own, I guess?
What we know about the cast and crew of Ancient Aliens
We don't have any information on cast members at the time of this writing, but we do know about some things behind-the-scenes. Josh Heald, who is one of the showrunners for the fantastic Netflix series "Cobra Kai," will direct. He will also produce with Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg through their Counterbalance Entertainment, with Jon Jashni, former president of Legendary Entertainment. The "Ancient Aliens" series was executive produced by the late Kevin Burns, who THR points out was partners with Jashni at Synthesis Entertainment.
Though Luke Ryan was announced as the writer in early 2021, THR now reports that Craig Titley ("Percy Jackson and the Olympians," "Cheaper by the Dozen") will pen the script.
Here's hoping that Giorgio Tsoukalos and his hair will make a cameo in there somewhere, perhaps as one of the aliens.
Where and when to watch Ancient Aliens
We don't have any information yet on when the "Ancient Aliens" film will be released. The fact that a new writer was announced a week before this writing means it might be a while, but that is my own speculation.
So what could the story for the film be? It could end up being a really funny takedown of the series' premise, or a crazy world-traveling story that ends up with adventurers finding out that ancient peoples were really smart and figured this stuff out without the help of little green guys. Maybe the aliens came, saw that we could create our own wonders, and then left. Whatever happens, we'll make sure to keep you updated as information becomes available.
In the meantime, there are 18 seasons of the show to watch, so do let us know your favorite "it was aliens" theory.