While it hasn’t been canceled yet, Alien: Earth season 2 not being renewed would be even worse now than it was just a month ago. Despite great reviews for Alien: Earth — the show has 94% on Rotten Tomatoes — and the cliffhanger ending of Alien: Earth season 1 that set up a larger story, the show hasn’t been renewed yet. Alien: Earth season 2 is still a mystery, and Disney and FX haven’t given audiences any updates.
For the many fans of Alien: Earth, having an official cancellation would be disappointing no matter when it came. It’s a promising show with an intriguing story, and it adds a lot to the lore of the Alien franchise. Still, if Alien: Earth does get canceled now, over a month after season 1 ended, it would be even more disappointing because of the new Predator movie.
Predator: Badlands’ Success Continues The Alien & Predator Renaissance
Alien and Predator have been tied together for a long time. Though it’s no longer officially canon, the two franchises crossed over in 2004 with the Alien vs. Predator movie. Still, both Alien and Predator have been closely linked, with recent Predator movies even containing overt references to Weyland-Yutani, the main antagonist of Alien.
Another thing linking Alien and Predator is the “renaissance” both franchises have been experiencing. Alien: Romulus revitalized Alien after the divisive Alien: Covenant, while the 2022 film Prey revitalized Predator. Now, Predator has been revitalized by Predator: Badlands, which is currently having an amazing debut. Badlands is already projected to make about $30 million at the box office, and it boasts an impressive 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Badlands cemented it: both Predator and Alien are doing better, both commercially and critically, than they have in decades. The last projects in both franchises released before Disney took over in 2019, prove that definitively. Alien: Covenant earned 65% approval with critics and 55% with audiences, while 2018’s The Predator earned just 34% and 32%, respectively.
Every Alien And Predator Project Released By Disney Has Thrived So Far
Since 2019, when Disney got the rights to both Alien and Predator through its acquisition of 20th Century Fox, both franchises have released some truly great installments. Alien had both Alien: Romulus, a box office hit with $350 million and approval ratings over 80%. Predator had Prey, which got 94% approval despite being a direct-to-streaming release.
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Alien & Predator Projects Released By Disney |
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Alien |
Predator |
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Alien: Romulus |
Prey |
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Alien: Earth |
Predator: Killer of Killers |
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Predator: Badlands |
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Those projects were also just the start of Disney’s wonderful handling of Alien and Predator. As previously mentioned, Predator: Badlands is having a great debut weekend, while Predator: Killer of Killers turned some heads earlier this year with its 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Likewise, Alien: Earth commanded 9.2 million viewers in its premiere alone, and it earned 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.
It would be such a shame if this renaissance Alien is experiencing ended with Alien: Earth, especially now that Predator has another big win under its belt. If Earth gets canceled before its second season, it’ll be the first Alien project to not be a definitive success story since Covenant. Canceling Alien: Earth would rob the franchise of all this momentum it has built up under Disney’s ownership.
Predator: Badlands also proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Disney knows what it’s doing with both Alien and Predator. The numbers don’t lie: Disney’s tenure of these franchises has produced undeniable results. If Alien: Earth season 2 gets made, there’s no reason to believe it would be anything other than a success. If it gets canceled now, there’s even more reason to be upset about what we’re losing out on.
Alien: Earth’s Contribution To The Franchise Shouldn’t End With Season 1
Regardless of if you liked or hated Alien: Earth, one thing is clear: the show deserves more time to contribute to the Alien franchise. It’s really the perfect addition to the franchise in a number of ways. It’s a prequel set on Earth, meaning we get a closer look at Weyland-Yutani than we’ve ever been afforded before. It can also add so much context to the original Alien and the numerous gaps in the Alien timeline.
It’s also clear that Alien: Earth was building up to a much larger story than the one told in its first season. We have so much more to learn about the five companies in Alien: Earth, their battle for control of the planet, and their quest to secure human immortality. Earth has also already given us so much information about Xenomorphs and their physiology, and it deserves a chance to show us even more.
There’s even reason to believe that future seasons of Alien: Earth could include a new crossover with Predator. As previously mentioned, Badlands features a Weyland-Yutani synthetic as one of its main characters. Earth also showed that Alien isn’t afraid of adding new aliens to the franchise, and the Yautja could be one of them. Disney may be setting the stage for a new crossover, but that can only happen if Alien: Earth has the chance to set it up more.
Additionally, if you thought Alien: Earth was lacking in some way, there’s even more reason for it to continue. There are a few legitimate criticisms of the show, like how it spread itself out a bit too far. Having a second season would give Earth a chance to find its stride and really develop its own voice. If Disney gives it a chance, Alien: Earth season 2 could be even better than its debut season.
