This Alien TV series FX is making seems to be attracting a lot of attention these days. A lot of it seems to be due to the fact that it’s going to be a prequel series to the science fiction horror franchise as a whole. However, let’s not forget the showrunner for this upcoming series: Noah Hawley. He has had a very long and interesting filmography under his belt. Fargo (2014-present) is his most famous work, but he has also worked on such shows and films as Bones (2005-2008), Marvel’s Legion (2017-2019), and Lucy in the Sky (2019). The TV series in particular deserve the most attention here, mostly because of their lengthy and complex storylines. So when Hawley mentions offhand that he wants this upcoming Alien prequel series to have a lengthy storyline like them, then we might want to sit up and pay attention.
Alien Prequel Series: Noah Hawley Details
Noah Hawley recently participated in an interview with Collider in which the main focus is actually the upcoming Alien prequel series he is doing for FX. True, Hawley is comparing the experience of making that to Fargo in this interview. However, xenomorphs are still first and foremost the main focus of this interview.
As for what Noah Hawley actually said in this interview? Well, here’s a transcript of a portion of that interview in which he talks about his plans for his Alien prequel series:
Noah Hawley Collider Interview Transcript
There’s definitely a place that I’m going, which I had with Legion, also. I just don’t necessarily know how long it’s gonna take me to get there, and on some level, I don’t want to know too much. Once you remove the play and the potential and the imagination, that’s why I’ve stopped outlining anything.
First of all, no one ever said, “That’s the best outline I ever read.” And second of all, it’s just a different part of your brain, honestly. It’s a different part of your brain that thinks about story that way versus the part of your brain that is writing the story. What we do is we get the writers in a room and we’ve got the whiteboards and we start big picture.
We start to write stuff in, like “Episode five, this might happen.” We get a loose structure to it and a sense of, “All right, this is the episode where this needs to happen.” And then, the writing process allows more discovery and allows the characters to live on the page in a way that doesn’t stifle the creativity. That said, in order to make things feel random and have coincidence and those real-life elements that we have, you do have to plan that pretty profoundly, but within that, I like to leave room to discover.
What Does It Mean?
The fact that Noah Hawler isn’t even doing outlines for his Alien prequel series suggests that he’s basically doing an Indy Ploy with the story. He’s not planning out each and every little detail. He seems to want make things up as he goes, more or less. Hey, it worked for him with Fargo. It might very well work for him with Alien. But the best part? It implies that this prequel series is going to run on for a pretty long time, with a lengthy and complex storyline. Hopefully beyond a single season.
Alas, production is still ultimately up to FX. If they don’t want a season 2, then it’s over no matter what Noah Hawley wants. Hopefully, this won’t be the case, but we shall see. Tune back in to THS to find out more about this Alien prequel series from FX when we do.
Source: Collider
