Posted in: FX, Hulu, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: alien, fx networks, noah hawley, preview

Alien/SAG-AFTRA: Noah Hawley, FX Series Can Continue Filming (Kinda?)

Even with the SAG-AFTRA strike underway, here's how FX Networks & Noah Hawley's series take on "Alien" could continue filming - kinda?

About 2-1/2 months ago, things were sounding promising when it came to Noah Hawley's upcoming series take on the "Alien" franchise, with reports that Sydney Chandler (Pistol, Sugar) had been cast in the lead role (though no other plot or character details were released). But as we all know, a lot has changed since then – with the biggest change happening today as SAG-AFTRA joins the WGA in striking against the AMPTP for new three-year deals, respectively. That means that with writers, actors, and others trading scripts for picket signs, a whole lot of things are shutting down – from entire productions to press events to a large chunk of San Diego Comic-Con 2023 (SDCC 2023). Where does that leave Hawley's production? Pretty much somewhere in between. With Variety reporting that the "large-scale undertaking" is in pre-production in Thailand, it appears the cast's mix of SAG-AFTRA and Equity members would allow the production to continue. But if the main leads are SAG-AFTRA members (as they're believed to be), then the production would need to film anything it could until the strike is over, and they can return in front of the camera (with Variety adding that Thailand-based producer Chris Lowenstein declined to comment).

In an interview with Vanity Fair from Summer 2021, Hawley offered some early insight into the themes that the series will be taking a deep dive into:

Hawley's Getting Inspiration from The Past: "What's next for me, it looks like, is [an] Alien series for FX, taking on that franchise and those amazing films by Ridley Scott and James Cameron and David Fincher. Those are great monster movies, but they're not just monster movies. They're about humanity trapped between our primordial, parasitic past and our artificial intelligence future—and they're both trying to kill us. Here you have human beings and they can't go forward and they can't go back. So I find that really interesting."

This Not a "Ripley Story" & Things Are Going To Open Up A Bit: "It's not a Ripley story. She's one of the great characters of all time, and I think the story has been told pretty perfectly, and I don't want to mess with it. It's a story that's set on Earth also. The alien stories are always trapped… Trapped in a prison, trapped in a spaceship. I thought it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of 'What happens if you can't contain it?' are more immediate."

Hawley Looks to Continue the Films' "Inequality" Themes: "You know, one of the things that I love about the first movie is how '70s a movie it is, and how it's really this blue-collar space-trucker world in which Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton are basically 'Waiting for Godot.' They're like Samuel Beckett characters, ordered to go to a place by a faceless nameless corporation. The second movie is such an '80s movie, but it's still about grunts. Paul Reiser is middle management at best. So, it is the story of the people you send to do the dirty work."

For Hawley, That Means a Focus on the Dangers Human Represent as Well as Aliens: "In mine, you're also going to see the people who are sending them. So you will see what happens when the inequality we're struggling with now isn't resolved. If we as a society can't figure out how to prop each other up and spread the wealth, then what's going to happen to us? There's that great Sigourney Weaver line to Paul Reiser where she says, 'I don't know which species is worse. At least they don't fuck each other over for a percentage.'"

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