The first full trailer for FX’s Alien: Earth is here, and there’s a huge amount to run through for fans of the sci-fi horror franchise, including what some fans believe is a clear Predator tease.
The trailer sets up the story, which revolves around the mysterious deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot. When it crash-lands on Earth, Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and a group of tactical soldiers make a “fateful discovery” that puts them face-to-face with the xenomorph fans know well, but also a number of other alien species, too.
FX’s Alien: Earth. OFFICIAL TRAILER. We were safer in space. Premieres August 12 on @fxnetworks | Hulu and with #HuluOnDisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/rCGXwI44LZ
— Hulu (@hulu) June 5, 2025
One character confirms the ship housed five aliens (“this ship collected five different lifeforms from the darkest corners of the universe”). So what are they? One is a facehugger, clearly. There are also glimpses at other, bizarre-looking creatures, including a big jelly fish thing and a sort of eyeball thing.
Could one be a Predator? There are two points in the trailer where what sounds like the iconic Predator clicking noise can be heard, and fans think it’s clear as day. On top of that, one character makes a rather unsubtle Predator reference, saying: “Invasive species… predatory.”
It’s worth remembering that it looks like Alien is once again crossing over with the Predator franchise in the upcoming Predator: Badlands.
Fans are already theorizing how this all plays out, with most assuming a facehugger ends up latching on to the other alien species to create weird and wonderful abominations. Others suggest one of the five aliens could be a precursor to the facehugger, and we get to see some sort of origin story for how it came to be.
And already fans are predicting that at the end of the series Prodigy City, the future city in which Alien: Earth is set, ends up nuked from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure, after all. How that ends up tying into the events of the first Alien movie and evil mega corp Weyland Utani’s nefarious plans for the xenomorph is anyone’s guess.
Also of note: we see a shot of someone pulling the inner jaws out of an alien which, well, good luck with that.
Alien: Earth is set in 2120 (well after Prometheus and just two years before Alien and the unfortunate events that befell the crew of the Nostromo). As a reference point, the recently released interquel Alien: Romulus takes place between Alien and Aliens.
At this point in the Alien timeline, Earth is governed by five corporations: Weyland-Yutani, Prodigy (they own this city, it seems), Lynch, Dynamic, and Threshold. Cyborgs and synthetics coexist with humans, but then the boss of Prodigy invents hybrids (humanoid robots with human consciousness). Wendy is the first hybrid prototype (and is part of the established push for immortality that is a running theme in the Alien franchise).
Alien: Earth cast:
- Sydney Chandler (Wendy)
- Timothy Olyphant (Kirsh),
- Alex Lawther (Hermit)
- Samuel Blenkin (Boy Kavalier)
- Babou Ceesay (Morrow)
- Adrian Edmondson (Atom Eins)
- David Rysdahl (Arthur Sylvia)
- Essie Davis (Dame Sylvia)
- Lily Newmark (Nibs)
- Erana James (Curly)
- Adarsh Gourav (Slightly)
- Jonathan Ajayi (Smee)
- Kit Young (Tootles)
- Diêm Camille (Siberian)
- Moe Bar-El (Rashidi)
- Sandra Yi Sencindiver (Yutani)
Alien: Earth premieres its first two episodes on August 12 on Hulu at 8pm ET, and on FX and Disney+ at 8pm PT / ET (August 13 in the UK and internationally on Disney+). New episodes of the eight-episode season debut each following Tuesday.
In January last year, showrunner Noah Hawley explained why he is not using the backstory provided in Prometheus for Alien: Earth, saying he likes the “retro-futurism” of the original films. Hawley said he spoke to Alien chief Ridley Scott about “many, many elements” of the Alien series, including its ties to the prequels, but ultimately decided to cut loose and move away from the bioweapon backstory because he preferred the lore of the original films.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
