FX’s Alien: Earth has been one of the year’s standout sci-fi debuts, earning critical praise and strong streaming numbers for its grounded, unsettling take on the Alien universe. While the series has yet to be officially renewed for a second season, creator Noah Hawley has already outlined where he’d like to take the story next — and his plans suggest an expansion well beyond the corporate island that defined season one.
In a recent conversation with Empire, Hawley reflected on the finale’s closing moments, where Wendy and The Lost Boys seized control of Boy Kavalier’s Neverland with the help of two xenomorphs. He compared the scene’s triumphant tone to the ambiguous ending of The Graduate, noting that once the adrenaline fades, the hard reality sets in. “That moment of ‘Now we rule’ is exhilarating,” Hawley said. “But then what comes after? The Weyland-Yutani ships are coming, and all they have is problems.”
If renewed, Hawley expects the new episodes to continue following Wendy and her group, whose struggle for independence has been the emotional core of the series. Yet his ambitions for the next chapter reach beyond their survival. He’s interested in exploring the larger web of corporations that have taken over Earth after the collapse of national governments — a setting that allows for what he describes as “a bit of Game of Thrones in the corporate world.” Each of the five remaining conglomerates represents a different ideology and approach to control, something Hawley wants to use to examine power, competition, and moral decay in a late-capitalist future.
Still, the Alien timeline imposes strict boundaries. Set two years before Ridley Scott’s 1979 original, the series can’t rewrite major canon events. Hawley acknowledges this, noting that Alien stories have always revolved around “levels of containment.” Season one’s island setting served as one such boundary; season two, he hints, would push beyond it. “The show is called Alien: Earth. I know I can’t blow up the planet,” he said, “but I do think containment is going to be very hard to maintain.”
That comment suggests a broader geographic and thematic scope if the series returns — one that could see the xenomorph threat and human corruption spreading beyond the walls of Prodigy’s territory. Whether FX orders another season remains to be seen, but given the five-year journey from concept to completion for season one, fans may have to wait patiently to see Hawley’s next stage of evolution for the Alien mythos.
