Alien: Earth Season 2 Complicates Franchise Timeline Further

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Although Alien: Earth has received positive reviews and been renewed for a second season, it’s actually contributing to a long-standing issue with the Alien franchise. The show has been a critical success, earning a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and viewers enjoyed it enough to warrant a season 2 renewal from Disney. Earth has also built on the momentum started by Alien: Romulus, helping to revitalize the Alien series.

Despite its strengths, Alien: Earth has some issues. It largely disregards the events of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, directly conflicts with the Alien vs. Predator films, and significantly alters how we understand the Weyland-Yutani corporation. A major problem, which will likely worsen in season two, is how it impacts the overall Alien story and timeline.

Alien: Earth Season 2 Will Continue To Make The Alien Timeline More Complicated

The history of the Alien movies has always been confusing, and Alien: Earth adds to that confusion. While the first four Alien films were released over a long period, they generally maintained a consistent timeline, with events mostly making sense within the established story. Even the Alien vs. Predator spin-offs could fit into this timeline, though it was a fairly flexible one.

Alien Movies & TV Shows In Timeline Order
Title Year Set
Prometheus (2012) 2093
Alien: Covenant (2017) 2104
Alien: Earth (2025) 2120
Alien (1979) 2122
Alien: Romulus (2024) 2142
Aliens (1986) 2179
Alien 3 (1992) 2180
Alien Resurrection (1997) 2379

Though set just two years before the original Alien (in 2120), Alien: Earth significantly expands the franchise’s backstory. It introduces Xenomorphs to Earth, features four powerful corporations battling for control, explores a desperate search for immortality, and includes cyborgs and advanced synthetics – all amidst a Xenomorph outbreak. Essentially, the story adds a wealth of new details to an already complex period in the Alien universe.

Plus, we haven’t even seen what new storylines Alien: Earth season 2 will bring. It’s hard to predict how the conflict between Wendy and the Lost Boys and the Weyland-Yutani corporation will unfold. Season 2 of Earth has the potential to significantly expand the Alien universe, potentially connecting more closely to the original film than Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection did – making the next two years in the timeline more impactful than the nearly two centuries separating those films.

Don’t Try To Fit Prometheus And Covenant Into The Alien: Earth Timeline

The timeline issues in the Alien franchise become even more complicated when you factor in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Ridley Scott’s prequels aimed to reveal the origins of the Xenomorphs, but they’re set too close in time to the original Alien to convincingly explain the ancient eggs discovered on LV-426. Despite hints that Xenomorphs existed long before the events involving David, the prequels don’t quite bridge the gap.

It was already tricky fitting the stories of Prometheus and Covenant into the timeline before the original Alien movie, but the new film, Earth, takes place even earlier. The journey of the USCSS Maginot lasted 65 years, meaning that Morrow and his crew discovered Xenomorph samples around five years before David, the android from Prometheus and Covenant, even encountered the Engineers. This makes the timelines of Prometheus and Covenant incompatible with Alien: Earth.

Alien: Earth Is Better Perceived As Its Own Thing

Patrick Brown/FX

To make sense of how ‘Alien: Earth’ fits into the overall ‘Alien’ story, it’s best to see it as a side story, not a direct continuation of the main films. Similar to how the ‘Fargo’ TV series isn’t a sequel to the original ‘Fargo’ movie, ‘Alien: Earth’ should be considered its own story that’s simply inspired by the ‘Alien’ universe, rather than an official part of it.

If you think of Alien: Earth as a separate story outside the main timeline, many of the plot inconsistencies disappear. Prometheus and Covenant can still work as the beginning of the Xenomorph story, even if they don’t fully resolve, and the events leading up to the original Alien don’t feel so crowded. You can also simply disregard the new companies, aliens, and themes if they don’t appeal to you. Ultimately, Alien: Earth is best enjoyed as a fun side story, and it’s probably best not to worry too much about how it all fits together.

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2025-12-04 23:19