‘Alien: Earth’ Accomplishes What No Other Franchise Entry Has Since ‘Aliens’
The Alien franchise has a new champion, and it’s called Alien: Earth. The latest addition to the series, and the very first live-action episodic show, has taken fans and critics by storm. The reactions have been so strong that, as one fan joked, the cheers “can even be heard in space.” The FX series, which also streams on FX on Hulu and internationally on Disney+, premiered on August 12, 2025, and quickly became a standout entry in the long-running science fiction horror saga.
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes have given Alien: Earth a 93% approval rating from 68 reviews. While it’s impressive on its own, the score also positions the show as the second-highest rated project in the entire franchise.
Only James Cameron’s Aliens tops it slightly with a 94% score. For comparison, the original 1979 Alien holds a 92%, while later films like Alien3 and Alien Resurrection earned far lower marks, 44% and 55% respectively. The Alien vs. Predator spin-offs were particularly poorly received, with Alien vs. Predator scoring 21% and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem plummeting to just 12%. Other entries like Prometheus reached 73%, Alien: Covenant scored 65%, and Alien: Romulus sits at 80%.
Noah Hawley, who created Alien: Earth, brings a fresh vision to the franchise. The show serves as a prequel set in 2120, two years before the events of the original film. It stars Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Essie Davis, Samuel Blenkin, Babou Ceesay, Adarsh Gourav, and Timothy Olyphant. The story kicks off when the space vessel Maginot crash-lands on Earth. A young woman and a group of soldiers discover a threat that could put the entire planet in danger.
Critics are not holding back praise. Rotten Tomatoes’ consensus reads, “Stylistically bold and scary as hell, Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth transplants the Xenomorph mythos into the television medium with its cinematic grandeur intact while staking out a unique identity of its own.” Metacritic echoes this sentiment, giving the series an 84 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating “universal acclaim.”
FX’s Alien: Earth. OFFICIAL TRAILER 2: GREENER WORLD. Prepare. Before it’s too late. Premieres August 12. pic.twitter.com/8KfO4Yr3N0
— 20th Century Studios Canada (@20thCenturyCA) July 17, 2025
This new success is particularly noteworthy because no other recent project in the franchise has reached such heights so quickly. Alien: Earth not only respects the legacy of the original films but also manages to carve out its own identity in the crowded world of science fiction horror. Fans and critics alike are celebrating, and with these numbers, it seems clear that Alien: Earth has earned a special place in the franchise’s history.
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