Noah Hawley’s upcoming Alien: Earth is expected to feature at least one Xenomorph on planet Earth, which will either rewrite Prometheus’ placement in the franchise’s timeline or confirm an old fan theory about David. Alien bringing its titular monster to Earth has been done before, from comics to Alien vs. Predator. However, if there were to be “tiers of canon” in Alien as there once were for Star Wars, neither AvP nor the comics are as canon as the movies. This is why Alien: Earth’s premise is such a big deal.
So far, it is unclear how much of the Alien timeline the upcoming show will retcon, if at all. Still, considering that Ripley’s entire mission in most of the Alien movies was to stop the Alien creature from ever coming close to Earth, the FX series will have to find a clever way to explain how there has been a Xenomorph on Earth before. While the exact timeline of the show hasn’t been confirmed yet, Alien: Earth will take place before the events of the first Alien movie, presumably around the same time as Prometheus.
Alien: Earth’s Timeline Means David Can’t Have Created The Xenomorph
A Popular Theory Is That David Only Reverse-Engineered What Already Existed
It has been reported that Alien: Earth will be set around 70 years before Alien (1979), which would place the show one year before the main events of Prometheus. The corollary of this is that David could not possibly have created the Xenomorph if there was already an Alien on Earth before the Prometheus mission encountered the Engineers. Ever since Ridley Scott’s Alien prequels came out, it has been widely discussed whether David is or not the creator of the Xenomorph. Alien: Earth is all but sure to confirm that the Xenomorph already existed before David’s experiments.
The term
“Xenomorph”
was first used in
Aliens
(1986).
The events of Prometheus and Covenant can be interpreted in two ways. Either David created the Xenomorph species that we first met in 1979’s Alien or he reverse-engineered something that already existed. Both options have pros and cons when it comes to the Alien canon, but it’s becoming more and more obvious that David cannot possibly have created the Xenomorph species. Any other option would make the Alien franchise a whole lot more complicated, especially with the arrival of Alien: Earth.
David Creating “A” Xenomorph In Covenant Fits The Alien Timeline Better
Not All Mysteries About The Xenomorph Species Should Be Answered
The Alien franchise was never too worried about canon and consistency, from deleted scenes that would’ve changed everything to dozens of comic books and video games. It’s hard to keep track of everything in the Alien universe, but even when looking at the movies only, things were never consistent. Still, from a thematic standpoint, it is far more interesting if David only recreated or enhanced something that already existed.
Related
Prometheus Is A Way Better Movie If You Ignore The Biggest Thing About It
Prometheus faced plenty of criticism for rewriting the Alien timeline and lore, but would the movie have been better as a standalone sci-fi adventure?
The Alien in the first movie is described as the perfect organism, which may have been achieved after not only the natural evolution of that species but also “human” interference – the human in question being a robot. David may have been responsible for making the Xenomorph more vicious killing machines with enhanced features, but those creatures likely existed already. Even if Alien: Earth ignores Prometheus altogether, it’s best to perceive David’s creation as just a small piece of the puzzle regarding the Xenomorph.
A prequel to the Alien film series.
- Cast
- Sydney Chandler , Alex Lawther , Essie Davis , Adarsh Gourav , Kit Young , Timothy Olyphant , David Rysdahl , Babou Ceesay , Erana James , Lily Newmark , Adrian Edmondson , Samuel Blenkin , Jonathan Ajayi , Diêm Camille , Sandra Yi Sencindiver
- Character(s)
- Wendy , CJ , Dame Silvia , Slightly , Tootles , Kirsh
- Seasons
- 1
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Release Window
- 2025