FX Chief, John Landgraf, gives us some much-needed details on the upcoming series Alien including when it will take place.
John Landgraf recently spoke at the network’s TCA winter tour, at which he gave a few updates on Noah Hawley’s anticipated Alien series.
“There are some big surprises in store for the audience,” said Landgraf, who when asked by Deadline, said Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley won’t be starring.
Landgraf also went into detail on exactly when and where the series lands within the Alien universe.
“Alien takes place before Ripley. It’s the first story that takes place in the Alien franchise on Earth,” said Landgraf, “So, it takes place on our planet. Right near the end of this century we’re in, so 70 odd years from now.”
“Ripley won’t be a part of it or any of the other characters of Alien other than the alien itself,” continued Landgraf.
Landgraf continued to talk about why Hawley fits for this project and what makes him so special.
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“Noah has this incredible ability, and I think you’ve seen it with Fargo, to both find a way of being faithful, showing fidelity to an original creation like a Coen brothers’ movie or in this case, Ridley Scott’s and James Cameron’s follow-up, Aliens, but also to bring something new to the table that represents extension and reinvention of a franchise at the same time,” he added.
Hawley himself even spoke on the themes of what this series will represent and the forces at hand in a separate interview.
“It’s set on Earth of the future. At this moment, I describe that as Edison versus Westinghouse versus Tesla. Someone’s going to monopolize electricity. We just don’t know which one it is. In the movies, we have this Weyland-Yutani Corporation, which is clearly also developing artificial intelligence. But what if there are other companies trying to look at immortality in a different way? With cyborg enhancements or transhuman downloads? Which of those technologies is going to win? It’s ultimately a classic science fiction question: does humanity deserve to survive?”
