Within the third episode of Alien: Earth, newly woke up after a long time of cryosleep, cyborg Morrow (Babou Ceesay) proclaims, “I don’t have a home. I’m gone a lifetime. Everyone I know is dead.” He tells this to Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver), his useless boss’ granddaughter and the present head of the Alien franchise’s evil mega-corporation, Weyland-Yutani.
Morrow is the lone survivor of the USCSS Maginot, Weyland-Yutani’s deep-space analysis vessel that departed Earth in 2055, solely to crash-land there 65 years later, in 2120, when Alien: Earth is about. That timeline will not be an issue within the Alien franchise’s lore of decades-long house journey, e.g., between the occasions of Alien and Aliens, Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley snoozed in an escape pod for 57 years.
However for viewers who consider or hope Alien: Earth is canon to all the Alien movies (besides the Alien v. Predator spinoffs, that are usually not thought-about canon), we’ve encountered some turbulence.
What’s the problem?
That is a Weyland Company ship in “Prometheus” — not a Weyland-Yutani ship.
Credit score: Scott Free Prod/twentieth Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock
Prometheus, the primary Alien movie in the sequence’ timeline, primarily takes place in 2093. The Prometheus can also be a deep-space analysis vessel, however one funded by the Weyland Company — not Weyland-Yutani — and containing a crew that features the corporate’s founder, Peter Weyland (Man Pearce), and his daughter, Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron). At that time limit, Weyland Corp. had not but merged with the mysterious Yutani Corp.
The Prometheus sequel, Alien: Covenant, is about in 2104, by which era Weyland and Yutani have joined forces as a brand new firm, and so they’re funding the Covenant colonization mission. If that also holds true, why was the Maginot — which, once more, launched in 2055 — branded as a Weyland-Yutani ship because it took off half a century earlier than Weyland and Yutani merged?
Mashable High Tales
Why does it matter?
Morrow (Babou Ceesay) works for Weyland-Yutani. However they don’t seem to be referred to as that but?
Credit score: Patrick Brown / FX
If Alien: Earth suggests Weyland-Yutani was in existence in 2055, it might be exhausting to sq. that with the occasions of the 2090s-set Prometheus — the place Yutani will not be talked about and Weyland Corp. exists as a solo enterprise — and Alien: Covenant, which is a direct sequel to Prometheus. It could additionally battle with sure plot factors in Alien: Romulus, a 2130s-set midquel that references the Prometheus mission by title.
In different phrases, having Weyland-Yutani exist in a special timeline than the movies could also be sequence creator Noah Hawley’s manner of claiming his present operates in a barely totally different universe than the movies. That’s one thing Hawley has hinted at, however by no means said definitively.
And if it does exist individually, does that imply Alien: Earth won’t acknowledge topics explored within the extra trendy Alien motion pictures, just like the Engineers and their mutagenic black goo? It is exhausting to say, particularly since a dissected facehugger in Alien: Earth comprises black organs and each black and inexperienced blood.
Some potential (if far-fetched) eventualities to sq. the W-Y discrepancy
So, how may the Weyland-Yutani of all of it be defined? Let’s play out just a few eventualities:
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The Maginot departed Earth as a Yutani operation and spaceship, however in some unspecified time in the future post-merger was rebranded as a W-Y vessel to mirror the brand new firm, probably at a refueling cease or W-Y house station.
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The Maginot was a joint operation between Weyland and Yutani firms, however the firms wouldn’t formally merge till a lot later.
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Weyland-Yutani had already merged by 2055, however severed ties earlier than the occasions of Prometheus (possibly Yutani didn’t assist a loopy costly mission to search out historic aliens?), solely to once more be a part of forces later.
Apart from continuity problems, the truth that the unique Yutani was chasing — or stumbled upon — alien creatures a long time earlier than the occasions of Alien is an enchanting idea. The movies, at the least those made this century, middle Weyland because the driving power of Weyland-Yutani’s harmful alien ambitions, whereas the TV sequence suggests it’s really the Yutani facet steering the (house)ship. Alternatively, maybe Hawley will thread the needle and current a situation the place all the things strains up and the unique Weyland and Yutani characters had been informing one another’s disastrous choices. We will see — in contrast to Xenomorphs, franchises are sometimes imperfect organisms.
Alien: Earth episodes drop weekly on Hulu and FX at 8 p.m. E.T. on Tuesdays.
