After months of anticipation, Alien: Earth landed on our screens last week – more specifically, on Disney+, if you’re watching in the UK. The first two episodes of the prequel to Ridley Scott's iconic 1979 Alien were made available to stream last Wednesday, and a new episode will drop every following Wednesday. The next instalment, episode 3, is available to watch now.
The first TV series in the Alien franchise, Alien: Earth takes us to the year 2120, Neverland research island, Earth. The first episodes set the scene – five corporations rule, including Prodigy, which has coined a technology that can make immortal humanoid robots with human consciousness. Wendy, the protagonist, played by Don’t Worry Darling’s Sydney Chandler, is the first of these ‘hybrids’.
When an extraterrestrial vessel crashes into Earth, Wendy and a team of soldiers go looking for signs of life and find something terrible within. No prizes for guessing what that is. Indeed, the preview trailer released by FX for episode three, titled ‘Metamorphosis’, teases slimy lifeforms, naturally, and there’s even talk of breaking new ground with ‘new lifeforms, with acid for blood’.
On the creative and production team is Noah Hawley (the screen writer behind major series including Fargo and Legion), Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Joseph Iberti, Dana Gonzales and Clayton Krueger, while cast members include Alex Lawther from The End of the F***ing World and Black Mirror, Kit Young from The Beautiful Game, Timothy Olyphant from Fargo and The Mandalorian), The Babadook’s Essie Davis, and Adarsh Gourav from White Tigers.
When is Alien: Earth episode 3 released?
Alien: Earth premiered on Hulu and FX in the US on 12 August, and on Disney+ in the UK and Ireland one day later, 13 August, owing to the time difference. The rest of the episodes drop weekly, in the small hours of Wednesday morning, with the finale arriving on 24 September. That means the wait for episode 3 is over – ‘Metamorphosis’ arrived in the UK today, 20 August, on Disney+.
How to sign up for Disney+
Disney+ is a paid subscription and costs £4.99 per month. Unlike Amazon and some other streaming services, there isn’t a free trial, which means you need to commit to one month of the service, but it’s worth keeping in mind that you can cancel your subscription at any time. That said, you might not want to. Disney+ is home to some of the most talked-about shows at the moment, such as The Bear and Star Wars series, Andor. There’s also a host of family favourites, such as The Simpsons and animated Disney films from Frozen to Encanto.
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