The Alien TV series is in full production for release on Disney Plus, and showrunner Noah Hawley (Fargo) has spoken regarding his take on the iconic Aliens franchise. However, his ideas on battling “inequality” in the Aliens Disney Plus series have upset some fans, although others have been quick to point out that the Alien series has always really been about this, and Hawley confirms the “faceless nameless corporation” is the real villain.
Why are Aliens fans upset with the Alien TV series?
Vanity Fair has the interview with Noah Hawley on the Alien TV series, where the showrunner confirms that the Disney Plus show won’t be starting until probably late next year due to pandemic-related delays, plus Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley will not feature. Hawley also points out that the Alien movies are “not just monster movies” and the series will continue the franchise’s themes of social inequality — with Weyland-Yutani, the big faceless corporation, being a focus.
“So you will see what happens when the inequality we’re struggling with now isn’t resolved. If we as a society can’t figure out how to prop each other up and spread the wealth, then what’s going to happen to us? There’s that great Sigourney Weaver line to Paul Reiser where she says, ‘I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t fuck each other over for a percentage.”
Despite Hawley taking all this inspiration from the Alien movies themselves, many fans are complaining about the possibility of a political and social agenda being in the TV series.
So more politics. Pass.
— e n g i n e [No.9] (@NeloMors) July 1, 2021
Activists using your favorite IP as a Trojan Horse to platform their sociopolitical ideology isn't new.
— Steven Wayne (@StevenWayneArt) July 1, 2021
https://twitter.com/acemartin1999/status/1410633093623341056
However, many other fans are quick to offer the rebuttal that the Alien series is literally all about social inequality, with the big corporation sending the characters in and seeing them as expendable, in order to get profit from the Alien species.
"This series isn't about inequality" pic.twitter.com/TwH90Nsrya
— @alexsteacy.bsky.social (@alexsteacy) July 1, 2021
The Alien series has always been about class inequality. The rich corporation decides to fuck over it's workers in order to make more money. That's literally what Alien was about.
— Jess (@cdwell_) July 1, 2021
This was always kinda a core of the Alien series pic.twitter.com/q4LJuyVVBV
— Andth'eirva🐙☭ (@Andtheirva) July 2, 2021
The Alien TV series won’t begin filming until at least “next Spring,” according to Hawley, so all these fans will have to wait until late 2022 at the earliest before they find out if any of these fears are justified. Out far sooner for the franchise is Aliens: Fireteam Elite, which has a release date of August 24, 2021, on PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. However, the still-fantastic Alien: Isolation is probably a better example of the class warfare in the franchise at work.
