Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth TV show is taking the world by storm right now, and rightly so. Not only does it look the part, with authentically designed sets, an extravagant budget, and enough killer space monsters to fill Hadley’s Hope, but it’s also well-written, with likeable characters to root for, and a few mysteries to keep us invested to boot. While the heart of the story centers on a relationship between a brother who’s a medic, Hermit, and a sister who’s the first hybrid ever created, Wendy — a combination of human consciousness inside of a synthetic body — the real meat and cornbread of the show revolves around a bunch of new space monsters that Weyland-Yutani discovered in the outer rims of the galaxy.
So far, these new critters comprise of a mixture of parasitic organisms that range from the oh-so-terrifying to the downright disturbing. From an alien eyeball that attaches itself to a host’s optic nerve with its tentacles and takes control of the host’s body, to giant ticks that burrow into their victims’ flesh, to a weird venomous plant pod thing that hangs conspicuously from the ceiling, there’s enough gross flora and fauna to keep any horror fan guessing as to what horrific sequence Noah Hawley and his creative team are gonna cook up next.
Will a Predator Show Up in Alien: Earth?
While we’re only three episodes into the show right now, I can’t help thinking about one thing: Yes, I’m pretty sure that a Yautja — aka a Predator — is gonna show up at some point in the show in a big plot twist or surprise reveal. Don’t believe me? Well, outside of a strong gut feeling — largely due to the thematic emphasis on Alien: Earth‘s bizarre menagerie of murderous space creatures — I have a little bit of evidence to back up these bold claims.
Back in October 2024, The Hollywood Reporter conducted an interview with longtime Fox executive Steve Asbell, who is now officially serving as the President of Production for 20th Century Studios. In it, he was asked about the future of the Alien Vs Predator property, and whether or not there would be any new AvP films coming down the pipeline from Disney. Initially, he simply answers, “Probably“, but the important information comes next, after the interviewer states, “Not sure how I feel about that.” Here’s the full quote:
It wouldnโt be in the way you think. Thatโs the thing. Not in the way that it will just be called Alien vs. Predator or anything like the original movies. If we do this, theyโll be organically created out of these two franchises that weโve continued with characters that we fall in love with and those characters will combineโฆperhaps. But we havenโt gotten to that point. And weโre not just going to bang it out.
President of Production for 20th Century Studios, Steve Asbell, via The Hollywood Reporter
As you can see, it definitely sounds like the House of Mouse is planning something for the Alien Vs Predator franchise, but according to Asbell, the studio is going to “organically” create a crossover rather than develop a standalone movie like that we’ve seen in the past with 2004’s Alien Vs Predator and 2007’s Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem. What that is remains to be seen, however, but we can infer what the executive is driving at by taking a gander at what projects Disney currently has in the pipeline.
Firstly, it’s worth noting that a whole Alien Vs Predator animated series was developed, but the project was eventually canned, and never saw the light of day. Titled Alien Vs Predator: Annihilation, the 10-episode series was produced by Joshua Izzo, who is best known for his work on a trio of books based on James Cameron’s Avatar movies. Meanwhile, the story was reportedly written by Eric Calderon and Dave Baker. This all occurred back in 2023, so it’s unlikely that this has any real bearing on what Asbell is talking about in the aforementioned interview, though.
Next, we have a more believable candidate, Predator: Badlands, which is an upcoming sci-fi film that’s scheduled for a theatrical release on November 7, 2025. While it’s allegedly not a direct sequel to 2022’s Prey, it’s being developed by the same creative team, and spearheaded by the same writer-director Dan Trachtenberg.
What’s notable is that this sci-fi horror pic is drawing influences from the extended universe of Predator and Alien, as it features both a young Yautja called Dek and a Weyland-Yutani android called Thia (portrayed by Elle Fanning). As a result, this could actually be the project that Asbell is speaking of, as it is a blend of both cinematic properties. That being said, though, there doesn’t appear to be any Xenomorph in sight — at least in the marketing so far — but the reveal of H.R. Giger’s iconic space monster in that movie could prove to be a surprise twist when it launches later this year, right?
The third option, and one which I speculate could also likely happen is this: a Predator could show up in Alien: Earth during the finale in some crazy cliffhanger. Or if not, perhaps in the next season of the series in a shocking surprise reveal at some point. Going further and helping to add a bit more evidence to this is the fact that Noah Hawley is well-known for smuggling strange, off-kilter elements in his TV shows, as in the second season of his Fargo series — which is quite a grounded crime drama affair — there’s a bizarre moment when a UFO flies overhead during a shootout scene, and it’s never really fully explained why.
Ultimately, with Alien: Earth leaning so hard into its myriad of newly introduced space monsters, it just makes sense for the Yautja to turn up to wreak havoc on this modern version of earth in a shock twist. I mean, it sounds pretty plausible, no? Whether it’ll prove to be a good creative decision or not is an entirely different story altogether, however, as some Alien purists may not exactly be over the moon by the decision.
On a more personal note, though? I’d just be happy to see two of cinema’s most badass space monsters beating the living snot out of each other, especially if we throw some of the deadly life forms we’ve seen introduced in the show into the mix as well. While past AvP iterations haven’t exactly set the world on fire — I’m mostly looking at 2007’s Requiem, which was an unmitigated disaster — there’s still plenty of life left in a potential crossover between the agile, acid-spewing Xenomorphs and the advanced tech and hunting prowess of the Predators. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
