Alien: Earth’s trailer may have teased the next Alien vs. Predator confrontation as the franchises move toward the inevitable rematch. The first-everAlienTV show,FX’sAlien: Earthis set in 2120and follows a group of tactical soldiers who are sent to investigate a spaceship that crash-landed on Earth bringing five different lifeforms. While we can assume that one of those specimens is a Xenomorph, it remains to be seen what else the soldiers will encounter.
Seven years afterAlien: Covenant, theAlienfranchise returned with 2024’sAlien: Romulus, which was a critical and commercial success. AlthoughRomuluswas a very self-contained movie that borrowed a lot from the first twoAlienfilms, it set the stage for an exciting future. Likewise, after Hulu’sPreyresurrected thePredatorseries, cinema’s deadliest class of hunters is returning to the big screen withPredator: Badlands. Interestingly, not only didPredator: Badlands' trailer include a majorAlienconnection, but nowAlien: Earth’s trailer may have referencedPredator.
Alien: Earth Refers To The Monsters As “Predatory” In The First Trailer
The Xenomorph Will Not Be The Show’s Only Threat
Toward the end of theAlien: Earthtrailer, one of the scientists refers to lifeforms as"invasive species"and also"predatory.“It’s unclear whether the scientist was using both terms to refer to all five species or not, but the fact is that the choice of words here is quite interesting. Given the shared history of theAlienandPredatorfranchises,it is difficult to hear the word"predatory"in anAlienproject without associating it with the Yautja, especially in the context of deadly alien species.
The first crossover betweenAlienandPredatorhappened in the Dark Horse comic bookAliens vs. Predator,first published in 1989, a year beforePredator 2included a Xenomorph skull in the Predator’s trophy wall.
Although most of the conversation aroundAlien: Earthhas to do with how the show will bring a Xenomorph to Earth without messing with the franchise’s established lore, I’m now more interested in learning about the other monsters that will be encountered. The Xenomorph may be the most perfect organism of all, but that doesn’t mean there are no other fascinating, deadly creatures out there. Even if none of the monsters on the show is a Yautja,Alien: Earth’s biggest threat may not even be a Xenomorph.
It could be interesting to have the Xenomorph be the “lesser evil"on the show, with the humans and synthetics having to team up with the titular Alien against the other species. Funnily enough, this would be somewhat similar to what happened inAlien vs. Predator.
Why An Appearance By A Predator In Alien: Earth Could Make Sense
A New Alien Vs. Predator Seems Inevitable, At Least On The Big Screen
It must be noted that,while Xenomorphs exist in thePredatoruniverse, none of the canonAlienmovies have ever referencedPredator.The sister franchises have a very unique connection where their crossovers work just fine within thePredatortimeline, but don’t really fit into the mainAlienuniverse. TheAlien vs. Predatormovies have long been considered non-canon, particularly after Ridley Scott’sPrometheuscame out and gave us a better look at the Xenomorph’s origins. That said, a new, undoubtedly canonAlien vs. Predatorcrossover seems all but inevitable now.
Alien And Predator’s Upcoming Movies And TV Shows
Untitled Alien: Romulus Sequel
TBD
With Disney having recently relaunchedAlienandPredatorunder 20th Century Studios, there is no better time for a Xenomorph and a Yautja to fight on screen again. AfterPredator: Badlands' trailer revealed thatElle Fanning is playing a Weyland-Yutani Synthetic, it is safe to say we’ll get some kind of crossover between the two franchises in the near future.
Whether that will happen or at least be teased inAlien: Earthis too soon to say, but it would make sense for one of the deadly species referenced on the show to be Yautja-related. I would love to see a younger, perhaps proto version of the traditional Yautja, which would give us a taste of this largerAlien/Predatorshared universe while saving a proper battle for the movies.
