Hulu's 8-Episode Sci-Fi Masterpiece Is The Perfect Altered Carbon Replacement
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Hulu has a masterpiece eight-episode sci-fi show that's a nearly perfect replacement for Netflix's Altered Carbon. Great live-action cyberpunk shows are hard to find, but Altered Carbon is arguably the best of the bunch. It's one of the best shows on Netflix and one of the best cyberpunk shows period. Between its all-star cast to its brilliantly realized, a neon and rain-drenched cityscape, and a masterful neo-Noir mystery combined with some of the most inventive sci-fi concepts in years, Altered Carbon is fantastic.
The only problem with Altered Carbon is that it's over. After just two seasons, Netflix canceled Altered Carbon in 2020. Despite great reviews from audiences in season 1 and above-average reviews from critics in season 2, according to Rotten Tomatoes, the show never got a chance to continue adapting Richard Morgan's books of the same name. When Altered Carbon was canceled, cyberpunk and sci-fi fans were left with a big hole in their watch lists.
There are a few shows, both past and upcoming, that have tried to fill Altered Carbon's niche as a live-action cyberpunk series. From older classics like Person of Interest to upcoming shows like Blade Runner 2099, the genre is still alive and well. The single best replacement for Altered Carbon, however, is already here: Hulu's Alien: Earth. A prequel to Sigourney Weaver's iconic film franchise, Alien: Earth is also a perfect spiritual successor to Altered Carbon.
Alien: Earth Is The Best Live-Action Cyberpunk Show Since Altered Carbon
The biggest reason Alien: Earth works as a spiritual successor to Altered Carbon is simply its quality. Alien: Earth is easily the best live-action cyberpunk show since Altered Carbon, and along with animated shows like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Pantheon, it's one of the subgenre's best in the last decade. Its 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes is proof of that, but Alien: Earth also stands on its own merits.
Alien: Earth is dripping with cyberpunk elements. It features the Alien franchise's classic cassettepunk technology and spaceships, but the terrestrial setting also lets Earth experiment with mega-cities, mega-corporations, and the epitome of cyberpunk as a whole, the phrase "high tech, low life." The show even introduces human-android hybrids which call into question both humanity's relationship with technology and the very nature of humanity and the human soul.
On top of those elements, Alien: Earth, as a whole, is a story about capitalism run amok, a cyberpunk staple. Alien: Earth's corporations, mainly Prodigy, are in a race to secure human immortality while also trying to harness the most dangerous bioweapons ever conceived, the Xenomorphs. Alien: Earth has everything a cyberpunk fan could want out of a show, and it wraps it all up in a great story with great acting, production quality, and visuals.
Alien: Earth Has A Chance To Surpass Altered Carbon In Season 2
Alien: Earth isn't just a great replacement for Altered Carbon, it may actually surpass it. While Altered Carbon season 1 was great, there was a very noticeable decrease in quality in season 2. Season 1 was a moody, neo-Noir masterpiece with a strong central mystery, great characters and acting, and a fantastic setting. Season 2 traded all that in for a more action-oriented story with a weaker mystery, less interesting side characters, and a lack of interest in Richard Morgan's original story.
Altered Carbon season 2 effectively stained the show's legacy. Season 1 was, as previously mentioned, a masterpiece of cyberpunk television. It could have gone on for multiple more seasons, but season 2 took everything that made the show work and changed it. Alien: Earth doesn't have to follow that same disappointing progression. In fact, Alien: Earth season 2 can learn from Altered Carbon season 2's example and avoid making the same mistakes.
After its strong start, Alien: Earth season 2 can simply keep playing to its own strengths. It doesn't need to reinvent the wheel, especially given the story the ending of Alien: Earth season 1 set up for it. Alien: Earth already has a great foundation, a great story that can easily be continued, a great cast playing likable and complex characters, and more. Basically, Alien: Earth season 2 can be everything Altered Carbon season 2 wasn't.
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Alien: Earth
8/10
- Release Date
- August 12, 2025
- Network
- FX, Hulu
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Sydney Chandler
Wendy
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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
-
Altered Carbon is set in the far future, at a time when a human's consciousness can be stored in a device called a Stack and transferred into different bodies, allowing people who have the means to become functionally immortal. Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman and Anthony Mackie), the former member of a rebellion against Stack technology, is awakened and released from prison so that he can be employed by a wealthy man to solve the man's own murder. The Netflix original series is based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Richard K. Morgan.
- Directors
- Alex Graves, Ciaran Donnelly, M.J. Bassett, Nick Hurran, Peter Hoar, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Uta Briesewitz, Jeremy Webb, Andy Goddard, Miguel Sapochnik
- Writers
- Brian Nelson, Garrett Lerner, Russel Friend, Steve Blackman, Adam Lash, Laeta Kalogridis, Nevin Densham, Alison Schapker
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Creator(s)
- Laeta Kalogridis
- Executive Producer(s)
- Alison Schapker, Arnold Messer, Bradley J. Fischer, Dana Goldberg, David Ellison, James Middleton, James Vanderbilt, Laeta Kalogridis, Marcy Ross, Mike Medavoy, Rose Lam, Steve Blackman
- Producers
- Johanna Lee, Lori Waters, Nevin Densham
- Seasons
- 2
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