Alien: Earth marks the first TV series in the Alien franchise. Prior to this, the series has spawned numerous classic films and, in collaboration with Predator, produced several blockbusters featuring crossovers between the two iconic IPs. Never before adapted into a television format, Ridley Scott has finally embarked on a prequel series. This prequel primarily uncovers the origins of the Weyland Corporation and the catastrophe that the Xenomorphs unleash upon Earth.
The story is set two years before Alien (1979), in 2120—a pivotal time in the Alien universe. A host of events unfolded during this period, all traceable back to 2089, three decades prior to the events of Alien. By then, Weyland had mastered android technology, creating the first generation of synthetic beings—David—and interstellar jump-capable spacecraft.
In a quest for immortality, Weyland mobilized the company's biologists and archaeologists to scour the globe for signs of extraterrestrial civilizations. Eventually, Dr. Shaw and her husband discovered star map murals of an alien civilization in an ancient cave, which were location coordinates left by a highly advanced species. Weyland then assembled a team of scientists and launched the Prometheus Project, aiming to journey to this planet in search of humanity's creators.
In 2089, humans had no concept of Xenomorphs whatsoever. However, the Engineers had already left clues on Earth regarding the connection between Xenomorphs and humans, guiding humanity to explore this link on their own.
After the failure of the Prometheus Project, only Dr. Shaw and David survived. They piloted the Engineers' circular spacecraft, traversing the cosmos in search of the Engineers' homeworld. A devastating battle with the Engineers ensued, nearly wiping them out entirely. Some Engineers escaped to other planets aboard their vessels, with LV-426 being one of their refuge destinations.
In Alien, during humanity's return voyage from LV-426 to Earth, they encountered a mysterious planet—one of the Engineers' escape havens. This planet was emitting a distress signal, prompting the crew of the Nostromo to investigate. There, they found a crashed spacecraft containing numerous Engineer fossils and Xenomorph eggs, each housing a facehugger.
From this point onward, the Engineers had begun spreading Xenomorph eggs across the universe. Around the same time, David, too, wandered the cosmos with Xenomorph embryos, establishing his own laboratory to continue researching the creatures. Over years of experimentation, he used Dr. Shaw as a host to cultivate multiple generations of Xenomorphs. Some of these were incomplete, mere transitional forms of the species. By this stage, the existence of Xenomorphs had become a mystery, with no one aware of the extent of their spread.
By 2120, after three decades of proliferation, the Xenomorphs—disseminated by David and the Engineers—had spread throughout the universe. During this period, humans had detected Xenomorphs on various planets and started collecting samples for research. Under the guise of mining, they set up an experimental base on LV-426 to study methods of cultivating Xenomorphs.
Around this time, an unidentified spacecraft crashed on Earth. Belonging to an extraterrestrial civilization, its interior harbored a large number of Xenomorphs.
Judging from its internal structure, the spacecraft was not crafted with the technology of the Engineer civilization but bore striking similarities to human technological designs. Thus, it is highly probable that the vessel was manufactured by the Weyland Corporation. Over time, it was either brought back to Earth by androids who had drifted to other planets or programmed with an automatic return system, causing it to navigate back to Earth on its own. In response, humans dispatched a ragtag team to explore the craft, only to discover the Xenomorphs within. This led to the creatures' spread on Earth, plunging the planet into disaster.
This is the first installment depicting the Xenomorphs' spread on Earth. Previously, no matter how far they had spread, they had never reached Earth. It stands as the only film featuring a Xenomorph invasion of Earth and is the most anticipated work among Alien enthusiasts.