Noah Hawley is one of the most interesting and respected filmmakers working today. Sure, he didn’t have the best of luck with his debut feature, “Lucy in the Sky,” but his work on TV is pretty much second-to-none, as “Fargo” continues to impress. But that doesn’t mean he just is able to get every project he wants greenlit by studios. In fact, as discussed in a new Observer interview, he had a pitch for “Alien” that isn’t likely going to get made, as it will join the ranks of his unproduced “Star Trek” feature. And as you might expect, Ridley Scott’s sci-fi/horror franchise is very different than “Star Trek.”
“‘Alien’ is on some level the complete opposite of ‘Stark Trek,’” Hawley explained. “It’s sort of about humanity at its worst. There’s this moment in the second film when Sigourney says, ‘I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t screw each other over for a percentage.’ If you look at what Aliens tends to be, it’s usually a trapped story – trapped in a ship, trapped in a prison, etc. And because the Alien has this life cycle to it, where it goes from egg, to chestburster, to xenomorph, there becomes a certain routine to it.”
So, with the “Alien” franchise being so different than “Star Trek,” how did Hawley approach this unique style of sci-fi franchise?
“I thought it would be interesting if you could expand,” he said. “If you’re going to make something for television, you’ve got 10 hours let’s say. Even if you have a lot of action, like two hours, then you’re still going to have eight hours left. So what is the show about? That’s what I tried to talk to them about.”
Hawley continued, “As I did with ‘Legion,’ the exercise is: Let’s take the superhero stuff out of the show and see if it’s still a great show. What’s the show about? Let’s take the Alien out of the show. What’s the show about? What are the themes, who are the characters and what is the human drama? Then we drop the aliens back in and we go, ‘This is great. Not only is there great human drama, but there’s aliens!’”
While an “Alien” series without a xenomorph sounds a bit like “Prometheus” (and we all know how badly most fans responded to that), it’s hard to argue with the guy that not only did an ‘X-Men’ show (“Legion”) without superheroes and was able to make the “Fargo” TV series not only work as a concept but actually become one of the best shows around. So, yes, we should give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to a proposed “Alien” series.
The only problem is that it doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to happen. Much like “Star Trek” on the big screen, no one really knows what to do with “Alien” right now. Maybe that’s for the best.