Alien follows the Disney method: it jumps to TV as a Star Wars and Marvel-style franchise.

Disney bought Marvel in 2010 and Star Wars in 2012, and soon began a creative policy that took the norm of making its acquisitions profitable to such an extreme that it led to the cancellation of many projects from the galaxy far, far away in theaters. The pace of production continues unabated as long as the market accepts it, and things didn't improve with the arrival of its streaming platform in 2020, which coincided with the purchase of 20th Century Fox, home to a host of new properties, such as the Alien saga , that film about the monster hidden in a ship called the Nostromo.

While they didn't waste any time preparing three films with the Predator franchise, they took it a bit more slowly with this one, and until they embarked on Alien: Romulus, they didn't take the same route as with WandaVision or Loki : turning their licenses into serialized shows for streaming competitors. Therefore, the arrival of Alien: Planet Earth on television represents more than an expansion of the brand . There's an obvious interest in exploitation, yes, but the enormous budget of 215 million euros also suggests a fear of failure.

The pursuit of prestige is a fascinating collision of artistic vision and corporate strategy, one that might even define how modern icons adapt to audiences who weren't born when they started. With Noah Hawley at the helm, the series promises to walk the fine line between creative triumph and failure, as its artisanal philosophy, which was greatly rewarded in Fargo and Legion , is not without its odd moments that may not quite resonate with the fan-spirited fans of Dan O'Bannon's creation.

In Alien: Planet Earth , Hawley is more restrained than expected, but his quest to reproduce the original's sense of uncanniness in the creature's life cycle also involves a radical expansion, going beyond encountering xenomorphs to exploring synthetic bodies with human sentience and introducing multiple new alien species. The danger of AI's future thus reveals an ambitious thematic scope that reshapes the very nature of horror in movies. But what's surprising is that he's retained a great deal of creative autonomy in the face of a corporate oversight that was able to dump the directors of Han Solo , Ant-Man , and Doctor Strange into the Multiverse of Madness over "creative differences."

Hawley dared to include UFOs in Fargo and make Legion his experimental whim, so he wasn't going to appear here without enjoying a creative freedom unusual for Disney , which can subvert expectations by taking the franchise to places hostile to the casual viewer. His ambition ruined his first great attempt at cinema, Lucy in the Sky (2019), whose story of an astronaut with magical realism did not reach either critics or the public, leaving a warning about the limits of freedom in a commercial framework. In Alien, everything is fine if you play with nostalgia, but straying too far from the scheme can be dangerous.

The balance between innovation and tradition is a challenge in an era of unprecedented content production. Differentiated products offer great competitive appeal, but they also demand a commitment that may seem anachronistic in the current climate of the massive flow of series every Friday. Alien: Planet Earth arrives with the paradox of offering the same pressure as major franchises with a willingness to take the risk of innovation; in other words, it's an example of wanting to please everyone while relying on the vision of a visionary who brings a fresh perspective. Critics have been convinced; let's see when the screen faces the fans.