One of the things that fascinates me most about Alien: Earth is that, for the first time in a long while, the Xenomorph isn’t the most terrifying creature on screen. The horror has shifted — and that’s brilliant. Noah Hawley has built a narrative where the fear doesn’t just come from claws and double jaws, but from a cold, calculating alien intelligence: T. Ocellus, the infamous “eye.” And now, with Boy Kavalier practically determined to find it a new host, the stakes have never been higher. This is where the suspense grows: who will be chosen?

My first reading is that Kavalier has two clear — and equally cruel — options: sacrifice Wendy, his favorite and the smartest of them all, or finally get rid of Shmuel, whom he sees as a threat. Much of the online discussion points to Shmuel as the likely target — and yes, it would make sense. Turning him into a host would neutralize someone Kavalier sees as a danger and would force Wendy into a devastating confrontation. But I’m convinced that Kavalier’s true choice is Joe, Wendy’s brother — and that’s where the series might land its most painful blow.

After all, the list of who he wants as a host is different from who he might end up with as a host. And that’s what makes this final stretch so dark. Poor Shmuel is at the top of the danger list, and we can’t forget that we’ve already seen Ocellus and the Xenomorphs clash — and it was the eye that won. That scene was a brutal reminder that we are dealing with an enemy capable of manipulating, anticipating, and defeating the deadliest creature ever created in cinema. Now imagine that power inside someone we know.

Wendy is the most obvious — and most tragic — candidate. She is a hybrid, has already defied the rules of what it means to be human, and is Kavalier’s most prized piece on the board. Turning her into a host would be the very definition of existential horror: Wendy losing the little control she fought to regain over her body and her new identity. It would be both a symbolic and emotional violation, and at the same time, a narrative masterstroke, forcing us to face the hardest question: could Wendy even be saved if she is no longer entirely Wendy?

Joe, the brother, is the second most likely name — and perhaps the cruelest of all. Making him the host would create the ultimate dilemma: Wendy would have to face her own brother, fight him, maybe even kill him. It’s the most intimately devastating possibility, and for that very reason, perhaps the most “Hawley” of them all. He loves putting his characters through emotional crucibles, and this would be the most personal and destructive of all.

There’s also Curly, the hybrid who wants to please Kavalier (and who has already shown she would do anything to stay by his side). Using her as a host would fit Kavalier’s logic — he loves turning loyalty into currency and testing how far his subjects will go. But it wouldn’t exactly be surprising.

And yes, I’ll admit it: I believe Boy Kavalier will end up becoming the host — and I’m rooting for it to happen. Not out of heroism, but as a form of poetic justice. He, who manipulates everyone, who treats lives as tools and bodies as lab experiments, would finally be consumed from the inside out by the “eye.” It would be the perfect punishment. And yet, it would also be an even bigger danger: a Kavalier with Prodigy’s resources and the mind of an alien strategist would be nearly unstoppable.

Whoever it ends up being, the choice of the next host will be Alien: Earth’s point of no return. The series has already proven that it’s not afraid to kill major characters or turn allies into monsters. The fear now isn’t of a creature lurking in the dark — it’s of watching someone we love lose themselves, from the inside out. And when that moment comes, even the Xenomorphs won’t seem so scary.