Alien TV series: Sydney Chandler to star

Don’t Worry Darling’s Sydney Chandler to star in the Alien TV series in development from Fargo’s Noah Hawley.

The Alien TV series from Fargo‘s Noah Hawley has taken a big step forward as THR has reported that Sydney Chandler has signed on to star in the project.

Of course, there are no details on who Sydney Chandler will play in the Alien TV series, only that she will be one of the leads. Chandler is best known for starring in Pistol, a miniseries chronicling the rise of the Sex Pistols. She played Chrissie Hynde, founding member of The Pretenders. Chandler was also featured alongside Florence Pugh and Harry Styles in Don’t Worry Darling.

FX CEO John Landgraf teased early last year that the Alien TV series takes place before the adventures of Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). “It’s the first story that takes place in the Alien franchise on Earth,” Landgraf said at the time. “So, it takes place on our planet. Right near the end of the century we’re in — 70-odd years from now.“

Landgraf has also compared the series to the first two Alien movies. “I’m a big fan of Alien and Aliens, and I remember watching both of them in the theater and how shockingly original and surprising each of them was in its own way,” Landgraf said. “And so, similar to his approach to Fargo, Noah decided not to take Ripley or any character from Alien — except perhaps the xenomorph itself — but go back and figure out what made the franchise so great and so durable in the first place and see if he could find an experience that felt like walking into a theater and seeing one of those first two movies, where you get caught off-guard. That’s all I can say at this point, though.“

Corporations, including the infamous Weylan-Yutani, are said to play a major role in the series, which Noah Hawley has teased will open up the stakes. “The alien stories are always trapped … trapped in a prison, trapped in a spaceship,” Hawley said. “I thought it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of ‘What happens if you can’t contain it?’ are more immediate.” I’m excited to see what Noah Hawley brings to the Alien franchise, but the TV series isn’t the only game in town. Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead) is currently in production on an Alien movie being made for the Hulu streaming service.