FX‘s Alien: Earth is one of the most hyped series of the TV season, as fans of the Alien movies wait to see how it will expand or change that venerable mythology. From creator Noah Hawley—who previously oversaw FX’s well-received adaptation of Fargo—and with a cast led by Sydney Chandler and Timothy Olyphant, this new venture is taking audiences even deeper into the unknown.

In a press conference ahead of the series premiere, Hawley, executive producer David W. Zucker, Chandler and Justified alum Olyphant shared some of their process. Find out how Hawley believes Alien: Earth differs from its big-screen counterparts, and learn how Chandler approached her complex role as the childlike protagonist Wendy.

How did you create something new for television that still respected the canon and tone of the Alien movies?

Noah Hawley: An Alien movie is a two-hour survival story, and a television show is long-form, in which you have to invest in a lot of characters who don’t die and explore these characters and the themes that were introduced in the Alien franchise. So the challenges are for me, let’s take the monsters out of it for a minute and think about what’s the show? Where’s the drama that we’re investing in week to week?

I’m not worried about the monsters. When we put the monsters in, that’s the money-back guarantee, right? So we had to create this human drama in which you have a lot of human monsters as well and explore a lot of issues about the world that we’re living in, just projected into the future.

David W. Zucker: Just to add to that, in watching the first two films after having completed the series, it was really striking to me how intimately related the two were—that Noah was able to take a lot of what was seeded in those films, a lot of the thematic ideas that were in those films. But by literally bringing this story to Earth, the way that many of those films referenced going to one day, it suddenly opened up the landscape, literally, and gave him an opportunity to really delve deeply into things one can’t accomplish in a two-hour film.

Sydney, the character of Wendy appears as an adult, but has the consciousness of a child. How did you approach portraying her?

Sydney Chandler: Wendy is very much a blank page. You can’t research a hybrid. I feel like Noah was able to create a very layered, grounded character. As far as balancing the two, it really depended on who I was acting with on the day and in what scene. Every actor would bring a different color to the work, which would kind of give me more information of who I am playing. It was kind of a collaboration of finding Wendy that way.

I would have this image of two magnets pressing up against each other, and you just can’t get them to touch as far as the mind, which is known, and this body, which is unknown territory. It’s kind of like what’s in the middle—what’s that void?—is what she’s seeking. And a lot of that has to do with [co-star] Alex Lawther [who plays Hermit].

Timothy, FX audiences know you very well from your work in Justified and its sequel, as well as Fargo. What drew you to playing another dark role as Kirsh?

Timothy Olyphant: What drew me to this one is that guy [points to Noah Hawley]. He called me in, and I was in. It’s pretty simple. Was it dark? It’s funny, I never thought of it that way. I was really going for comedy.

Alien: Earth premieres Aug. 12 on FX and Hulu at 8:00 p.m. ET, with new episodes airing subsequent Tuesdays on both platforms at 8:00 p.m. ET. Photo Credit: Courtesy of FX.

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