A Separate Alien TV Series Secretly Releases Before Alien: Earth Season 2

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The second season of FX's Alien: Earth is already underway, but there's another secret Alien show that will be released first. While it doesn't have an official release date yet, FX has already confirmed that Alien: Earth season 2 is happening, and it will likely premiere on Disney+ and Hulu sometime in 2027. That renewal was likely a fairly easy decision, given the unanswered questions at the end of Alien: Earth season 1, the show's 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the fact that it garnered nearly 10 million views from across the globe.
The success of Alien: Earth season 1 also means that season 2 is all the more highly anticipated. There are still so many loose ends Earth needs to tie up, from Wendy and the Lost Boys' plans now that they control Neverland Island to the fate of Boy Kavalier and Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani's response to the hybrids, and much more. Earth also still has to find some way to connect back to the original Alien and explain the Xenomorphs' arrival on Earth.
As highly anticipated as Alien: Earth season 2 is, it's actually not the next Alien project that will be released. While Ridley Scott has confirmed another Alien prequel film to follow-up on Covenant, that movie won't beat Earth to the punch. Instead, another franchise that has surprising ties to Alien is coming out with its first live-action show later this year: Blade Runner 2099.
Don't Forget, Blade Runner 2099 Is An Alien Series Too
Though they've never had a proper crossover movie before and don't share a title, Blade Runner and Alien technically share a universe. Alien has made a few in-universe references to Blade Runner, albeit mostly in deleted scenes. The original film mentions the Tyrell Corporation, which created the replicants in Blade Runner, while Prometheus had a flashback to Peter Weyland, a founder of Weyland-Yutani, mentioning Tyrell by name. And, of course, both franchises' original films were created by Ridley Scott.
While there is some evidence that Blade Runner and Alien take place in a shared universe, the franchises haven't done much with their shared setting. The Alien and Blade Runner movies almost exclusively stand on their own, aside from the previously mentioned deleted scenes. Ripley never interacts with Deckard, for example, and both franchises tell their own stories. Still, Blade Runner 2099 is technically part of the Alien universe, and its November 25 release date on Prime Video means it will be here before Alien: Earth season 2.
Even setting aside the loose shared universe between them, Blade Runner 2099 should actually be able to scratch the same itch fans of Alien: Earth have while waiting for the next season. The franchises have always had a lot of thematic and stylistic overlap, between the casettepunk aesthetic, the dystopian futures that explore the role of synthetic life, and their decidedly dark tones. Blade Runner 2099 may not have Xenomorphs, but it should be exactly the type of gritty, cyberpunk show that made Alien: Earth such a hit.
Blade Runner 2099 & Alien: Earth Are Happening Only A Few Years Apart
Interestingly enough, Blade Runner 2099 and Alien: Earth also have another connection to one another beyond simply taking place in the same universe. While Alien: Earth is a prequel and Blade Runner 2099 is a sequel in their respective franchises, both shows take place about 21 years apart from each other. Blade Runner 2099 takes place in, as the name implies, 2099, 50 years after K's death in 2049, while Alien: Earth season 1 takes place in 2120, two years before the original Alien.
Unfortunately, the proximity 2099 and Earth have to one another also serves as further proof that the shows are only very loosely connected. That's mainly because of the role of artificial life in both shows. As the premise of Blade Runner: 2099 has teased, replicants have replaced humans as the dominant form of life in 2099. However, humans still very much rule the planet in Alien: Earth, some 21 years later, and Wendy and the Lost Boys are still extraordinarily new.
Still, it is interesting that the shows are so close to one another in setting and in terms of their story. Alien: Earth season 2 will almost certainly be about Wendy and the Lost Boys fighting for dominance over humanity and establishing human-android hybrids as the new rulers of the planet, while Blade Runner 2099 is telling a similar story about replicants replacing humans. It's fitting in an almost poetic way: the stories of Alien: Earth and Blade Runner 2099 preclude them from taking place in the same universe, but they're so similar that they basically run parallel to one another, just like the franchises at large have for decades now.
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Alien: Earth
8/10
- Release Date
- August 12, 2025
- Network
- FX, Hulu
-
Sydney Chandler
Wendy
-
Alex Lawther
Hermit
Alien: Earth: Following the crash-landing of the USCSS Maginot on Earth, Wendy and a group of tactical soldiers confront a formidable threat. As they uncover the mysteries of the vessel, they face a challenge that could alter humanity's future.
- Directors
- Dana Gonzales, Ugla Hauksdóttir, Noah Hawley
- Writers
- Bob DeLaurentis
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Creator(s)
- Noah Hawley
- Executive Producer(s)
- Clayton Krueger, Dana Gonzales, Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Joseph E. Iberti, Noah Hawley
- Producers
- Chris Lowenstein, Darin McLeod, Maria Melnik
- Seasons
- 1
-
Blade Runner 2099
- Release Date
- 2026 - 2026-00-00
- Network
- Prime Video
Cast
-
Hunter Schafer
Cora
-
Olwen
-
Dimitri Abold
-
Lewis Gribben
Blade Runner 2099 is set in a future Los Angeles where Cora, a master of disguise, partners with Blade Runner Olwen to secure her brother's future. As they navigate their personal struggles, they uncover a conspiracy that threatens the city's fragile resurgence.
- Directors
- Jonathan van Tulleken
- Writers
- Silka Luisa, Ryan Willison, Claire Kiechel, Kirsa Rein, Tom Spezialy
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Creator(s)
- Silka Luisa
- Executive Producer(s)
- Andrew A. Kosove, Ben Roberts, Broderick Johnson, Clayton Krueger, Cynthia Sikes, David W. Zucker, Frank Giustra, Isa Dick Hackett, Jonathan van Tulleken, Michael Green, Richard Sharkey, Ridley Scott, Silka Luisa, Tom Spezialy
- Producers
- April Moore
- Seasons
- 1
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