Unfortunately, it looks like the wait for FX’s already long-awaited Alien TV show just got a lot longer. The series, which was first announced nearly three years ago in December 2020, hails from showrunner/writer/director Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion) and is going to take place on Earth, which is a big change-up for the franchise. Unfortunately, due to the duel Hollywood strikes that crippled the industry this year, the show has most likely been pushed back to 2025.
Hawley recently spoke with The Wrap and touched on the status of the show. He explained that, once the Screen Actors Guild strike ends, they will get back to work, with the plan currently to resume filming in January. Production pressed on during the Writers Guild of America strike earlier this year, but the SAG strike eventually did force a shutdown. Here’s what Hawley had to say about it:
“We’re all just waiting for the strike, and it will end. The plan right now is to go back in January and be shooting in February, and looks like shoot until July or so, which puts the air date somewhere in the in the first half of ’25.”
Some filming was able to continue during the strikes, but it was only the first episode. Sydney Chandler, who is set to star in the lead role, wasn’t available to film because of the SAG strike. “I was able to complete filming most of the first hour. That said, I wasn’t able to film anything with my star,” Hawley explained. “So I still have the bulk of the show to film, and we have seven more hours to shoot. I certainly would have loved to get the show in front of people as quickly as possible.”
Luckily, fans won’t be totally out of luck in 2024. Director Fede Alvarez’s new Alien movie - which Ridley Scott thinks is fucking great by the way - is also on the way and is expected to arrive next year. As for the show, Hawley talked a bit about the thrill of being on set and feeling transported to the world first introduced to us in Scott’s 1979 horror/sci-fi classic.
“It’s very exciting that I get this opportunity, with films like ‘Fargo’ or ‘Alien,’ to live within the world that was created by these directors and storytellers. It raises the hair on the back of your neck in a good way to walk onto a set where you feel like you’re on the ‘Nostromo.”
Look for the Alien TV show on FX sometime in 2025.
