Fresh off the now finished Fargo, which he adapted into series form, Noah Hawley tackles transforming another well known IP into a television series with Alien: Earth. Set a couple years prior to the original 1979 Ridley Scott film, Alien: Earth does something perhaps unexpected by not having the majority of it happen in space. Alien: Earth drops us into a planet earth that has seen all governments and countries fall, and the world now run by ‘The 5’, five mega-sized corporations that rule through a tenuous partnership. One of these corporations will be well known to Alien devotees, Weylan-Yutani, but the series spends most of its time with the upstart Prodigy.

Alien: Earth opens with a series of text screens laying out the three types of augmented human lifeforms in this universe. Androids, or Synthetics, an Alien staple and bane of Ripley’s (Sigourney Weaver) life, 100% artificial lifeforms. Cyborgs, who have had a little exposure in Alien films of the past, are humans with technology implants, artificial limbs and such, but are still predominantly human. And Hybrids, newer entries in this universe, which Synthetic bodies that have had a human soul and consciousness ported directly into them. The Hybrids are the brainchild of Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), the Prodigy behind the company name is a science nerd with a Peter Pan obsession, a huge brain and bigger ambitions. He also looks like the RA in college who walks around in a robe all day eating cereal.

Boy Kavalier has put together his own band of Lost Boys with a bunch of terminally ill children between ages 10-12 that he transfers into new Hybrid shells. Renaming them after characters  from J.M. Barrie’s classic tale, Kavalier’s group includes Wendy (Sydney Chandler), Slightly (Adarsh Gourav), Tootles (Kit Young), Smee (Jonathan Ajayi), Curly (Erana James) and Nibs (Lily Newmark). Overseeing the project is the trio of a synthetic named Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), Kavalier’s de-facto right hand man, married scientist couple Dame Silvia (Essie Davis), the group’s psychiatrist, and Arthur (David Rysdahl).

Into the world of Prodigy drops, literally, a Weyland-Yutani science vessel, USCSS Maginot, which has only one survivor, security officer Morrow (Babou Ceesay). You see, as tends to happen to science vessels in the Alien Universe, The Maginot has been harboring a number of alien lifeforms. One of these life forms is a now fully grown Xenomorph that eats its way through the crew. Under specific orders to protect the alien lifeforms above all else, Morrow locks everything down as the ship hurtles through the atmosphere, landing directly in the middle of Prodigy’s main city. Among the crew of Prodigy employees initially sent in to investigate is Hermit (Alex Lawther), Wendy’s brother when she was alive who has no idea her consciousness is still alive. Seeing this as an opportunity to reestablish a connection with him, Wendy convinces Boy Kavalier to allow the Lost Boys crew into the ship to test their progress and investigate the creatures onboard. The goal of course is to offload them into their own labs to study, all while stonewalling the latest head of the Yutani family (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) who wants her creatures back.

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That’s just the set up and staging through the first 2 episodes of this 8 episode series. It should be clear from that description though that Hawley set himself a mandate with this series – explore the universe of Alien from an entirely different angle. Now, there are not going to be a flurry of xenomorphs running amok here (at least there wasn’t in the episodes that Disney provided us pre-broadcast for the sake of this review).  No, the action still remains pretty contained in labs and ships, echoing the claustrophobic nature of the original film. And speaking of the original film, there are some sequences you could swear were shot on the original Nostromo as the set design is stellar. The look and feel of the Maginot certainly feels like a sister ship to the Nostromo and blending of old school set design and new school CGI is bafflingly good. This is by far the closest anyone has gotten to replicating the feel of the 1979 set.

As for the alien lifeforms, sure, all the original lifeforms we all know of here, the stages of xenomorph if you will. But there’s also an eyeball creature that’s equal parts horrifying and fascinating. There’s even a tease that this creature may not be on friendly terms with the xenomorphs itself, which leaves me dying to see the resolution there. But for those concerned that a Disney production would cut back on the blood, put your fears aside. Alien: Earth is gory as all hell. The initial xenomorph rampage that kicks off in the first few episodes is a bloody affair that may be the most ferocious alien attack we’ve seen in this franchise for quite some time. Plus the eyeball monster is something to behold all on its own.

I think the biggest issues for the audience may come from the performances, as Hawley has not made it easy on the main groups of ‘Lost Boys’. These are adult actors that are being required to play synthetic beings, with the emotional development of children and the intellectual capacity of a supercomputer. That’s a lot of heavy lifting. On top of that, most of them have their own side story mixed into the overall loop. Chandler’s Wendy is the most successful, though she does get the most attention and screen time, as she develops quickly along the story as a child longing for her brother to be a Ripley-esque heroine. Erana James’ overzealous Curly is also enthralling,  as she attempts to make herself Boy Kavalier’s new favorite at any cost and I am intrigued to see how a subplot with Newmark’s Nibs finally plays out as she is seemingly unraveling. But to get a little nitpicky, as I must, I feel Gourav’s Slightly to be very uneven and underwhelming in parts and Tootles and Smee just seems to be mainly window dressing at this point. But the main driving factors in this series are Blenkin’s Boy Kavalier and Ceesay’s Morrow. Both are singularly focused and foreboding characters in their own right. Kavalier is both dashing and jovial and utterly menacing at the drop of a hat while Morrow is downright obsessive with finishing his assignment for Yutani, as its literally all that’s left in his life.

With more corporate intrigue mixed in than I expected, paired with an impressive amount of bloodshed, Alien: Earth delivers something different for the Alien Universe that feels refreshing. The final episodes should tell how this story of a xenomorph attack fits in to the mythology of the overarching story, especially coming before the original film which currently presents some logistical loopholes, but I’m sure Hawley had something planned. I mean, if he’s been this meticulous in world building you know he must have though about it. But for myself I’ll  eagerly await the final episodes with baited breath.