Spoilers Alien Earth (2025 Hulu show)

[Tosk]

The franchise's "idea" rights belong to Ridley Scott,(More precisely, as far as I understand, after the Alien productions before 2010, Ridley Scott acquired the 'idea' rights of the franchise.) and anyone directing an Alien series or film must satisfy him. He's also the producer of that series and Alien Romulus. Neill Blomkamp also had an Alien 5 project that would erase the history of Alien 3 and 4. At least, until Ridley Scott waved his hand in a camera-focused environment and declared, "You can't make Alien!", Ridley Scott was on the fence about anyone but him making Alien. He's recently changed his mind.

What are "idea" rights?

 

[DigificWriter]

Apparently I overestimated/was just plain mistaken about the level of creative involvement and control that Ridley Scott has over the Alien IP, so Mea Culpa on that.

 

[FredH]

Hawley flat-out said that, despite not actually having the authority to do so, he's pretending that Prometheus and Alien: Covenant don't exist, which immediately and automatically puts Alien Earth at odds with the movies.

It puts it at odds with Prometheus and Covenant (and ironically, probably not with the AVPs). Movies 1-4 may take place later, but they were created long before Prom/Cov, and so far I don’t believe they’ve been contradicted (or rejected by Hawley) in any way. (And if the series doesn’t ultimately contradict Prom/Cov in any significant way, then Hawley having written them off won’t even matter.)

 

[oktay]

What are "idea" rights?

I meant in terms of intellectual property. I previously thought Ridley Scott had creative control over the series thanks to a YouTuber I follow. But since he's been a producer on the series since Prometheus, it seems he still has a say in director selection.

 

[Tosk]

I meant in terms of intellectual property. I previously thought Ridley Scott had creative control over the series thanks to a YouTuber I follow. But since he's been a producer on the series since Prometheus, it seems he still has a say in director selection.

The intellectual property is owned by Disney. Scott's credit on Alien Earth is as an executive producer, which in TV terms usually indicates someone who is not making actual creative decisions about the production.

 

[Set Harth]

Romulus established the facehuggers implant the black goo

That looks like something insisted upon by the books as opposed to Romulus.

 

[Steve Roby]

And even if executive producers play a more important role, whose voice is getting heard? Here's IMDB's list of producers on Alien: Earth:

associate producer	Jessica Bail
co-executive producer	Michael A. Garcia
co-executive producer	Migizi Pensoneau
co-executive producer	Robert De Laurentiis
co-producer	Christine Lavaf
co-producer	Cory Faulkner
co-producer	Marjorie Chodorov
executive producer	Clayton Krueger
executive producer	Dana Gonzales
executive producer	David W. Zucker
executive producer	Joseph E. Iberti
executive producer	Ridley Scott
executive producer	Walter Hill
executive producer (showrunner)	Noah Hawley
line producer	Apinat 'Obb' Siricharoenjit
producer	Chris Lowenstein
producer	Kristy Reed
producer	Maria Melnik
producer	Regis Kimble
producer (produced by)	Darin McLeod
supervising producer	Bobak Esfarjani
supervising producer	Erin Smith
supervising producer	Lisa Long

That looks like something insisted upon by the books as opposed to Romulus.

I don't think the books get to insist on anything.

 

[kitik]

What's up with all these Alien stories going backwards in time anyway? Alien Earth takes place before Alien, Romulus takes place before Aliens, Prometheus and Covenant are the prequeliest of prequels.

I get that there's no over-arching story arc of good vs evil or something that needs to progress forward, it just seems a little odd. The notion of Aliens chasing people on Earth seems like it could have slotted perfectly into a post-Resurrection timeframe.

Mind you, I'm not complaining. I'm really enjoying Alien Earth so far. Now I'm a little bummed as I just realized there are only 3 episodes left.

 

[Set Harth]

The notion of Aliens chasing people on Earth seems like it could have slotted perfectly into a post-Resurrection timeframe.

yes.

 

[JD]

The intellectual property is owned by Disney. Scott's credit on Alien Earth is as an executive producer, which in TV terms usually indicates someone who is not making actual creative decisions about the production.

I think EPs are actually the producer who tend to take the most creative roles in a series, the showrunners and major writers, and recurring directors are almost always also credited as executive producers.

What's up with all these Alien stories going backwards in time anyway? Alien Earth takes place before Alien, Romulus takes place before Aliens, Prometheus and Covenant are the prequeliest of prequels.

I get that there's no over-arching story arc of good vs evil or something that needs to progress forward, it just seems a little odd. The notion of Aliens chasing people on Earth seems like it could have slotted perfectly into a post-Resurrection timeframe.

Mind you, I'm not complaining. I'm really enjoying Alien Earth so far. Now I'm a little bummed as I just realized there are only 3 episodes left.

Yeah, it has seemed weird to me too. I can kind of see wanting to go back and explore the origins of the Xenomorph and the Engineer ship in Prometheus and Covenant, but there was really nothing about basic story of Romulus or Earth that requires them to be prequels.

 

[Tosk]

I think EPs are actually the producer who tend to take the most creative roles in a series, the showrunners and major writers, and recurring directors are almost always also credited as executive producers.

Maybe I got it back-asswards?
My apologies to all if so.

Though a credit doesn't preclude them also having another role on the production.

SNW has like a thousand EP credits, they surely gotta be the ones who aren't day-to-day on the show. (Especially people like Rod Roddenberry.) Similar to 'legacy' credits for people who retain a credit due to a previous production, like EP Will Smith on Cobra Kai.

 

[Starkers]

Maybe I got it back-asswards?
My apologies to all if so.

Though a credit doesn't preclude them also having another role on the production.

SNW has like a thousand EP credits, they surely gotta be the ones who aren't day-to-day on the show. (Especially people like Rod Roddenberry.) Similar to 'legacy' credits for people who retain a credit due to a previous production, like EP Will Smith on Cobra Kai.

I don't think you're necessarily wrong. Maybe not all the time but I've seen plenty of occasions where an exec producer credit is simply to fulfil a contractual obligation and often isn't someone who's had a major input into the film or show.

 

[JD]

Yeah, I forgot people like that tend to be executive producers too. I think sometimes it seems like it's just a way to get some of the people involved more money.

 

[Starkers]

Going by Wikipedia an exec producer can range from someone who helps provide the funding for a project and/or someone with extensive hand on control of the project, to a mere vanity title.

I think the crux of it is that whilst exec producer isn't always a vanity title, if someone is given a vanity title that title tends to to be exec producer, if that makes sense.

 

[Saul]

I would even go so far as to say it borrowed elements from AVP, consciously or not.

They are both telling the same kind of story. Prometheus just looks more well made.

The closest thing to a direct contraditon is the presence of a laval xeno inside a facehugger. Romulus established the facehuggers implant the black goo, which implies there isn't a "baby" xeno per se but rather mutated host tissue that forms the adult.

That might not be a contradiction. It could be that the Aliens in Alien Earth are the real deal and the ones in Romulus are more connected to the black good saga going back to Prometheus. Especially since it seems that they reverse engineered the Alien in Romulus.

 

[Starkers]

They are both telling the same kind of story. Prometheus just looks more well made.


That might not be a contradiction. It could be that the Aliens in Alien Earth are the real deal and the ones in Romulus are more connected to the black good saga going back to Prometheus. Especially since it seems that they reverse engineered the Alien in Romulus.

I think the reverse engineering in Romulus is the best explanation, it's not perfect but it does make some sense. In tinkering with the genetic material they got from the xenomorph they effectively created an earlier iteration of the creature.

Seeing how the facehuggers work, the idea of a xeno embryo makes more sense than them pumping black goo into you anyway.

 

[Set Harth]

I don't think the books get to insist on anything.

I was wrong. After reviewing the Romulus script, it seems that Romulus incorporated 'revelations' from a 2018 book. Still, all we hear in the film is the name of the substance, for whatever that's worth.