It would be funny to look back at my past self and imagine I’d be here recommending a genre that was never my favorite (sci-fi) or a film I’d watch with my eyes wide open, only because I was too scared to blink. Well, how things change! I enjoyed Alien: Earth so much I nearly had an existential crisis!

But there’s one factor that makes me face my fears: Ridley Scott. The British director may not get every single film or series right, but he’s a genius who’s given us visually stunning classics and unforgettable stories — whether period dramas, contemporary tales, or dystopian futures. Let’s remember: the original Alien (1979) had a female protagonist, questioned the advance of technology, showed the threat of Artificial Intelligence, exposed the greed of huge corporations, and introduced a terrifying alien with literally acidic blood, hunting humans to implant its eggs, burst them from within, and seek more hosts. The alien — which fans and experts know as a xenomorph — could be read as a metaphor, but 46 years later (yes, Scott put all of that on screen in 1979), the rest feels frighteningly current. And with Alien: Earth, showrunner Noah Hawley has elevated the entire equation into something profoundly deep, terrifying, and brilliant.

For fans of the Alien franchise, the series is respectful and painstaking in its detail. For those who know nothing about it, it’s still incredible. The production value is so immersive, it’s hard to remember you’re not in a movie theater. Only one other series in 2025 achieved the same feat: Andor (absolutely my favorite of the year). That’s because this spin-off, which works as a prequel to the 1979 film — set three years before Scott’s movie, with Scott as producer — brings back all the human questions from the earlier films, with the difference that much of it now feels like the present.

In 2120, Earth is controlled by corporations instead of governments, and they compete relentlessly for technological advancement at any cost — among other goals, to discover the formula for immortality. A deep space research vessel suffers a catastrophic failure (yes, a nod to the original film) and crashes to the planet — but in contested corporate territory — setting off multiple crises: negotiations, fear, and power plays. And yes, the ship carried the terrifying xenomorph that wiped out every human host onboard. Once on Earth, its threat is handled differently by each corporation, none of which cares about sacrificing human lives.

Unluckily for the alien, 22nd-century Earth is home to various “cyborgs” — humans altered with technology. There are “synths,” fully artificial robots like the android Ash (played by Ian Holm in the original movie), and a new category: “hybrids,” human minds transferred into synthetic bodies. They’re humanity’s best hope of stopping the acid-spitting predator.

In this landscape, we meet an evil Peter Pan — obsessed with the classic tale — the quintessential malignant narcissist: the remorseless, infuriating trillionaire Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin). His pet project is experimenting with hybrids by transferring children’s brains into adult bodies — his own “lost boys.” Their leader and the very first is Wendy (Sydney Chandler), who seems to have limitless physical and cybernetic abilities that only grow stronger. When Wendy learns her brother Hermit (Alex Lawther) is a first responder investigating the contaminated spacecraft, she infiltrates the mission alongside her fellow synths for a search-and-rescue operation.

Layered with heavy rock classics (the first episode opens with Black Sabbath’s Mob Rules), Alien: Earth navigates fear — real or imagined — in a scientific, economic, and psychological clash that’s easy to follow yet still awe-inspiring. Essentially, cold-hearted humans want what’s aboard the ship — for profit, discovery, or to destroy it to protect others. And the xenomorph? It just wants to breed and destroy.

Hawley, already brilliant in his creation of Fargo, among others, is more than a fan of the franchise — he sustains constant tension in every episode, with graphic, violent scenes that always serve a purpose. He understands how to explore the cruel truth that humans are merely (literal) food, and that while predators may come from space, the worst ones are right here. He also gives us more idiosyncratic, surprising characters, full of soul and depth.

I watched eight of the ten episodes in order to write this review, and I was deeply struck by the result. The weakest link might be the series’ star, Sydney Chandler, but she’s surrounded by a cast so strong that they balance out the danger. The fact is, Alien: Earth is set to please everyone — without ever straying from the canonical Alien content — bringing freshness and new life to the franchise. Sensational.