Did ‘Alien: Earth’ already break franchise canon?

In the third episode of Alien: Earth, newly awakened after decades of cryosleep, cyborg Morrow (Babou Ceesay) announces, “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 dead boss’ granddaughter and the current 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 research vessel that departed Earth in 2055, only to crash-land there 65 years later, in 2120, when Alien: Earth is set. That timeline is not a problem in the Alien franchise’s lore of decades-long space travel, e.g., between the events of Alien and Aliens, Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley snoozed in an escape pod for 57 years.

But for viewers who believe or hope Alien: Earth is canon to all of the Alien films (except the Alien v. Predator spinoffs, which are generally not considered canon), we’ve encountered some turbulence.

What’s the issue?

That’s a Weyland Corporation ship in “Prometheus” — not a Weyland-Yutani ship.
Credit: Scott Free Prod/20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock

Prometheus, the first Alien film in the series’ timeline, mainly takes place in 2093. The Prometheus is also a deep-space research vessel, but one funded by the Weyland Corporation — not Weyland-Yutani — and containing a crew that includes the company’s founder, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), and his daughter, Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron). At that point in time, Weyland Corp. had not yet merged with the mysterious Yutani Corp.

The Prometheus sequel, Alien: Covenant, is set in 2104, by which time Weyland and Yutani have joined forces as a new company, and they’re funding the Covenant colonization mission. If that still holds true, why was the Maginot — which, again, launched in 2055 — branded as a Weyland-Yutani ship since it took off half a century before Weyland and Yutani merged?

Why does it matter?

Morrow (Babou Ceesay) works for Weyland-Yutani. But they’re not called that yet?
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX

If Alien: Earth suggests Weyland-Yutani was in existence in 2055, it would be hard to square that with the events of the 2090s-set Prometheus — where Yutani is not mentioned and Weyland Corp. exists as a solo enterprise — and Alien: Covenant, which is a direct sequel to Prometheus. It would also conflict with certain plot points in Alien: Romulus, a 2130s-set midquel that references the Prometheus mission by name.

In other words, having Weyland-Yutani exist in a different timeline than the films may be series creator Noah Hawley’s way of saying his show operates in a slightly different universe than the films. That’s something Hawley has hinted at, but never stated definitively.

And if it does exist separately, does that mean Alien: Earth will not acknowledge subjects explored in the more modern Alien movies, like the Engineers and their mutagenic black goo? It’s hard to say, especially since a dissected facehugger in Alien: Earth contains black organs and both black and green blood.

Some possible (if far-fetched) scenarios to square the W-Y discrepancy

So, how could the Weyland-Yutani of it all be explained? Let’s play out a few scenarios:

1. The Maginot departed Earth as a Yutani operation and spaceship, but at some point post-merger was rebranded as a W-Y vessel to reflect the new company, possibly at a refueling stop or W-Y space station.

2. The Maginot was a joint operation between Weyland and Yutani corporations, but the companies wouldn’t officially merge until much later.

3. Weyland-Yutani had already merged by 2055, but severed ties before the events of Prometheus (maybe Yutani didn’t support a crazy expensive mission to find ancient aliens?), only to again join forces later.

Aside from continuity complications, the fact that the original Yutani was chasing — or stumbled upon — alien creatures decades before the events of Alien is a fascinating concept. The films, at least the ones made this century, center Weyland as the driving force of Weyland-Yutani’s dangerous alien ambitions, while the TV series suggests it’s actually the Yutani side steering the (space)ship. Alternatively, perhaps Hawley will thread the needle and present a scenario where everything lines up and the original Weyland and Yutani characters were informing each other’s disastrous decisions. We shall see — unlike Xenomorphs, franchises are often imperfect organisms. 

Alien: Earth episodes drop weekly on Hulu and FX at 8 p.m. E.T. on Tuesdays.