Alien: Earth Season 2 Needs To Answer A Very Big Xenomorph Question — Or Face A Revolt
The Alien: Earth finale is great. But can the series address its biggest loose end?
In the final moments of Alien: Earth Season 1, Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and her hybrid compatriots are officially on top, and they’ve got more muscle than Prodigy or Weyland-Yutani put together. The question of who is in control at the end of the episode, at least in the Prodigy compound, is clear. And, so, when the inevitable Alien: Earth Season 2 shows up, there’s plenty of new conflict and certainly new character dynamics to explore. Will Weyland-Yutani ever get their aliens back? What will Wendy do with Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), Morrow (Babou Ceesay), and the rest? Clearly, there’s a lot to cover in future seasons, and this thrilling ending opens up certain doors by literally and figuratively closing others.
But, as “Animal” by Pearl Jam shreds over the ending credits, even the most loyal fans of Alien: Earth are probably still asking themselves one question. And if Alien: Earth Season 2 fails to answer this question somewhat rapidly, it’s possible the series could be in danger of losing its hard-earned credibility.
Spoilers ahead for Alien: Earth Season 1, Episode 8, “The Real Monsters.”
Alien: Earth Season 1, ending explained
Wendy and Hermit in the Season 1 finale of Alien: Earth.
Somewhat surprisingly, Alien: Earth’s final episode doesn’t end in a bloodbath some might have expected. While some minor characters are slain, perhaps the true twist of the episode is that most of the main characters are all alive. The final episode also provides some nice fake-outs; we think the eyeball alien is going to implant itself into Hermit, but then he escapes. We also briefly think that Morrow (Ceesay), the cyborg, and Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), the android, will destroy each other. You also might assume that the now-fully grown xenomorph, controlled by Wendy, would have slain Boy Kavalier on her command. But that didn’t happen either.
Instead, the hybrids — Wendy (Chandler), Slightly (Adarsh Gourav), Nibs (Lily Newmark), Smee (Jonathan Ajayi), and Curly (Erana James) — have turned the tables and have all of their enemies locked up in one place. We’ve learned that Kavalier’s manservant Atom (Adrian Edmondson) has secretly been a robot the whole time, which means Wendy was able to shut him down. In fact, Wendy’s ability to hack all of the Prodigy systems was the primary reason why she and the other “Lost Boys” ended up on top. In the final moments, Wendy promises that the time has come for her and her kind to “rule.”
But, there’s one very specific ace up Wendy’s sleeve, and the nature of that advantage is the biggest question Alien: Earth has left unanswered, so far.
Wendy’s ability to talk to the xenomorphs needs to be unpacked
Wendy is a great character and a great new mother for the aliens. But we need to know more.
Season 2 of Alien: Earth has not been officially confirmed, but based on strong reviews and great viewing figures, it’s likely only a matter of time before we get word that the show is coming back for more. Make no mistake, more Alien: Earth is certainly a good thing, and this Season 1 finale was as satisfying as it was thrilling. But the nature of Wendy and the hybrids’ victory was almost certainly linked to the fact that they’ve got the xenomorphs on their side.
But why? This is the one question that Alien: Earth has not answered outright. Sure, Wendy’s ability to manipulate technology hasn’t been fully explored either, but the fact that she has a synthetic body seems like an easy enough explanation. This fact does not explain why Wendy can click her tongue and get the xenomorph to do what she wants.
One could argue that this particular xenomorph was born out of the lung of Wendy’s brother, and therefore, she has a special bond with it. And yet, at the start of the show, it was made clear that Wendy could “hear” the aliens inside the crashed ship. So, before Prodigy captured the xenomorph and any other creatures, Wendy had some a priori bond with the famous titular aliens.
Could Alien: Earth get away with never explaining why? Unlikely. If the show continues into a second season, this ability will remain a crucial plot point. As the finale demonstrates, the xenomorphs are Wendy’s muscle, meaning it makes sense that the audience, or other characters, will think about how to sever that connection. And, if someone is trying to break up the connection between Wendy and the xenomorphs, then we’ll need to understand why it works in the first place.
Obviously, fully elucidating why the xenomorphs are so cozy with Wendy is risky: If the show gets too technical, it loses some of its elegance and style. But if we don’t get enough of an explanation, the believability factor is in danger, too. It’s an impossible task for Noah Hawley and the other creatives behind Alien: Earth. All we can hope is that there’s already an answer to this question baked into the series, and all we have to do is be a little more patient.
