The upcoming Alien series from FX will take place long before Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley ever battled the Xenomorph. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter at the Television Critics Association press tour, FX chief John Landgraf divulged a few more details about the Alien series, revealing that the story will take place in around 2092.

For context, 1979’s seminal sci-fi story, Alien, takes place in 2122, meaning that FX and Fargo writer Noah Hawley’s Alien series will be set roughly thirty years before Ripley jettisoned the interstellar beast into space. One of the major concerns among fans is that the show will damage the legacy of the franchise, but Landgraf has attempted to assuage these worries, heaping praise on Hawley and his ability to pay homage whilst creating something new and fresh. Much like he did with Fargo.

“Alien takes place before Ripley. It’s the first story in the ‘Alien’ franchise that takes place on Earth. It takes place on our planet, near the end of this century we’re currently in — 70-odd years from now. All I can tell you is Ripley won’t be a part of it, and neither will any other characters — other than the alien itself.”

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The Plan for FX’s Alien is to be Faithful While Crafting Something Brave & Original

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Alien director Ridley Scott is on board the series as a producer, with Landgraf further revealing that by setting the story on Earth – something that is entirely new to the world of Alien, the series should b able to find the right balance between something old and something new.

“Noah has an incredible ability to both find a way of being faithful and showing fidelity to an original creation, like to the Coen Brothers [with Fargo] or to Ridley Scott’s movie and James Cameron’s follow up ‘Aliens,’ but also to bring something new that represents both an extension and reinvention of a franchise at the same time. He’s done a masterful job with ‘Alien’ as he did with ‘Fargo.’ There are some big surprises in store for the audience.”

Announced during the 2020 Disney Investor Day presentation, it may be a while before we’re sitting down to see how well Noah Hawley has managed in bringing the Xenomorph to Earth. “We need to shoot Fargo this winter, so we’ll be shooting Fargo before Alien, though we have more scripts for Alien than Fargo,” Landgraf explained when asked about production on the series. “Noah is writing both right now.”

“I hope [the audience] will feel like it’s faithful to the franchise they love but also a brave and original reinvention of that franchise. Setting it on Earth is really interesting. We have to think forward about the future of the planet in terms of the environment, governance, technology and create and design a version of the planet in the future … Noah wants to do that in a distinctive and original way.”

Reports have claimed that the Alien TV series will start filming towards the end of 2022, with hopes of airing sometime during 2023.