Noah Hawley’s upcomingAlien: Earthis expected to feature at least one Xenomorph on planet Earth, which will either rewritePrometheus’ placement in the franchise’s timeline or confirm an old fan theory about David.Alienbringing its titular monster to Earth has been done before, from comics toAlien vs. Predator. However, if there were to be “tiers of canon” inAlienas there once were forStar Wars, neitherAvPnor the comics are as canon as the movies. This is whyAlien: Earth’s premiseis such a big deal.
So far, it is unclear how much of theAlientimelinethe upcoming show will retcon, if at all. Still, considering that Ripley’s entire mission in most of theAlienmovieswas to stop the Alien creature from ever coming close to Earth, the FX series will have to find a clever way to explain how there has been a Xenomorph on Earth before. While the exact timeline of the show hasn’t been confirmed yet,Alien: Earthwill take place before the events of the firstAlienmovie, presumably around the same time asPrometheus.
Alien: Earth’s Timeline Means David Can’t Have Created The Xenomorph
A Popular Theory Is That David Only Reverse-Engineered What Already Existed
It has been reported thatAlien: Earthwill be set around 70 years beforeAlien(1979), which would place the show one year before the main events ofPrometheus. The corollary of this is that David could not possibly have created the Xenomorph if there was already an Alien on Earth before the Prometheus mission encountered the Engineers. Ever since Ridley Scott’sAlienprequels came out, it has been widely discussed whether David is or not the creator of the Xenomorph.Alien: Earthis all but sure to confirm that the Xenomorph already existed before David’s experiments.
The term"Xenomorph"was first used inAliens(1986).
The events ofPrometheusandCovenantcan be interpreted in two ways. EitherDavid created the Xenomorphspecies that we first met in 1979’sAlienor he reverse-engineered something that already existed. Both options have pros and cons when it comes to theAliencanon, butit’s becoming more and more obvious that David cannot possibly have created the Xenomorph species. Any other option would make theAlienfranchise a whole lot more complicated, especially with the arrival ofAlien: Earth.
David Creating “A” Xenomorph In Covenant Fits The Alien Timeline Better
Not All Mysteries About The Xenomorph Species Should Be Answered
TheAlienfranchise was never too worried about canon and consistency, from deleted scenes that would’ve changed everything to dozens of comic books and video games. It’s hard to keep track of everything in theAlienuniverse, but even when looking at the movies only, things were never consistent. Still, from a thematic standpoint,it is far more interesting if David only recreated or enhanced something that already existed.
Prometheus Is A Way Better Movie If You Ignore The Biggest Thing About It
Prometheus faced plenty of criticism for rewriting the Alien timeline and lore, but would the movie have been better as a standalone sci-fi adventure?
TheAlienin the first movie is described as the perfect organism, which may have been achieved after not only the natural evolution of that species but also “human” interference – the human in question being a robot. David may have been responsible for making the Xenomorph more vicious killing machines with enhanced features, but those creatures likely existed already. Even ifAlien: EarthignoresPrometheusaltogether, it’s best to perceive David’s creation as just a small piece of the puzzle regarding the Xenomorph.
