Just as we were beginning to get over all that happened in 2020, FX has given us another reason to consider living outside planet Earth: extraterrestrials.
On Thursday, Dec. 10 during the Walt Disney Company's Investor Day 2020 presentation, the network confirmed it is working on a TV series inspired by the Alien movie franchise. With Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley set to executive-produce, the project has been introduced as "a scary thrill ride set not too far in the future"—and the first to take place on Earth. Specifically, it's been pitched as a hybrid of 1979's Alien and 1986's Aliens.
In addition, director Ridley Scott (Alien, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant) is also in talks to executive-produce, according to Entertainment Weekly. Starring Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, the only survivor of an alien attack out in the middle of space, the 1979 film remains a classic in the sci-fi genre that definitely gives us a lot of horror. At the time, Weaver was a relatively unknown 28-year-old actress. She reflected on the role ahead of its 40th anniversary back in 2019.
"I thought it was a small movie," she told Reuters, calling the cast "tiny" and Scott "a brilliant young director."
"I think the original script was all men," she said. "When they came to write the new script, they did talk about who should be the survivor. And I think the reason they ended up making Ripley a woman was that, at that point, no one would think an unknown would be playing the survivor."
That "small movie" has definitely given FX a lot to live up to.