How COVID Changed FXs Alien Earth Series

Living through a pandemic isn't entirely unlike being stalked by "a perfect organism" hellbent on tearing you limb from limb. As it turns out, that similarity was not lost on Noah Hawley, showrunner for FX's Alien series, Alien: Earth. During a roundtable chat, Hawley explained how the pandemic affected the Alien series logistically and thematically.

"We went through this COVID period. I was shut down on Fargo [Season 4]. We had six months before we could go back into production," Hawley said. "And I remember, everything's shut down, and no one really knew what to do, and this [Alien] project was already in the works. For about six months, I would just have a weekly call with [FX's] John Landgraf and Gina Balian, and we would just sort of talk around this idea of the show and, you know, it was actually a really great period to be able to workshop it."

While those considerations were more practical, Hawley added that the series and the pandemic naturally share some space in his mind.