5 Ways Alien: Earth's Ending Sets Up Season 2

Contains spoilers for "Alien: Earth" Season 1

"Alien: Earth" has closed out its first season, and despite taking place largely on Earth (and on a single island, no less), the "Alien" universe has never felt larger. Looper's review of "Alien: Earth" praised its high-concept ideas, taking into account the multiple ways humans can augment themselves and where the line between man and machine blurs. Of course, there's plenty of terrifying xenomorph action as well, and "Alien: Earth" brings in a few new extraterrestrial creatures for good measure. 

And this is just the beginning. The show's creator, Noah Hawley, said in an interview with Evolution of Horror how he has a grand plan for where the series can go next. "I think that I have a destination in mind story-wise, which allows me to know what the story is I'm telling, what it means," he explained. "And I don't know how long it takes to get there, but I do have a sense of where we go in success." Hawley has more stories in mind, and the show has garnered excellent viewership numbers. The premiere acquired 9.2 million views within its first six days on streaming platforms, so the show has an audience hungry for more. The question is merely where it goes from here. 

Notably, there are some lingering plot threads from the finale that deserve resolution. And while we don't know what Hawley's destination is for "Alien: Earth," here are some things we'd like to see going into Season 2. 

Easily the creepiest detail to the franchise's lore that "Alien: Earth" added is the idea of hybrids. The movies have always toyed with artificial intelligence, like Ash (Ian Holm) from "Alien" being a full synthetic being. There are also humans with cybernetic upgrades, but hybrids like Wendy (Sydney Chandler) are something else entirely. Dying children have their minds uploaded into synthetic bodies. They look like adults, but have the minds of children that can never actually age — a truly terrifying concept. And even though Wendy and her fellow hybrids are largely passive throughout much of "Alien: Earth," they rebel toward the finale. The final shot we see of the hybrids is them walking away from Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis), and some other adults locked in a cage with xenomorphs surrounding them. The kids are in charge now.

"Alien: Earth" Season 1 completely upends the scales of power. Boy Kavalier, despite frequently insisting he's God's gift to man with his vast intellect, is still apprehended by children (albeit children in much stronger adult bodies). His fatal flaw could be seen as underestimating everyone else. He thought he could control the hybrids since they were his creations and, by extension, his property. 

When asked what the hybrids are to do now, Wendy responds, "Now we rule." What does a society (even one as small as the island) ruled by children look like? "Alien: Earth" Season 2 can show viewers what kind of leader Wendy turns out to be — and she already has one major issue looming on her doorstep. 

"Alien: Earth" Season 1 kicks off with two out of the five major corporations that rule everything on Earth — Prodigy and Weyland-Yutani — in a geopolitical predicament. A Weyland-Yutani ship housing the xenomorph as well as other aliens crashes into a building owned by Prodigy. Seeing this as an opportunity, Boy Kavalier sends a team to recover all of the alien specimens now on his property, but, of course, Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) wants her pets back. It appears she's done going through lawyers, as "Alien: Earth" ends with Weyland-Yutani aircraft moving toward the island for "invasion and recovery."

We've already seen xenomorphs (under the command of Wendy) take out numerous soldiers already, so the company has its work cut out for it. The hybrids may be in charge now, but they may struggle in taking on a major force like Yutani. It'll be Wendy's first real test of leadership to see if she can navigate a full-blown warzone, but the fact she also holds dominion over electronic devices should also be an asset. 

Weyland-Yutani has been a frequent presence in the entire "Alien" story, always trying to get its hands on a xenomorph. The fact that the company's still trying to obtain xenomorphs years after "Alien: Earth" proves they can't succeed in this show, but we can learn more about the company's machinations. Besides, "Alien: Earth" is set in 2120, and in this universe, corporations like Weyland-Yutani don't get outlawed until 2349. There's plenty of time to flesh out the company and chronicle even more attempts to get a xenomorph.

The Xenomorph is definitely the star of "Alien: Earth," but Trypanohyncha Ocellus, aka T. Ocellus (the octupus-like creature with a giant eyeball) has definitely become a fan favorite. We've seen the creature embed itself in the eye socket of both a cat and a goat, and Boy Kavalier is particularly fond of it for demonstrating advanced intelligence. "Alien: Earth" ends with a tease that we'll see just how smart the creature is when T. Ocellus embeds itself in the face of the now-deceased Arthur (David Rysdahl). Boy might just get his wish to have a conversation with the extraterrestrial. 

However, even though Boy sees T. Ocellus as something that can rival him intellectually, we still don't know what it wants. It can count, which is something. But does T. Ocellus want to conquer planets? Would it get bored trying to explain the vast wonders of the cosmos to someone it perceives as feeble-minded, like Boy? 

There's also the matter of T. Ocellus being in Arthur's body. What's his wife, Dame Sylvia, going to think when she sees ... that? Depending on how exactly the alien works, it could have access to Arthur's memory and know things about Sylvia only Arthur did. This would be a fascinating area to explore in tandem with the hybrids. And there's the lingering question as to if the kids are still themselves when their consciousnesses are transferred into synthetic bodies. Is Arthur still himself even if he's piloted by an alien that could perfectly mimic his thoughts and personality? 

The first season of "Alien: Earth" hones in on the conflict between Prodigy and Weyland-Yutani, but we're told that there are three other corporate factions that rule over Earth alongside those two. The remaining three are Lynch, Threshold, and Dynamic. All three of these are new to the "Alien" mythos, and we still barely know anything about them. Zaveri (Richa Moorjani) casually mentions in the episode "Neverland" that Dynamic owns the moon. Threshold and Lynch get name-dropped in the episode "Metamorphosis," but there's nothing much to glean.

Since it seems like Weyland-Yutani and Prodigy are about to go to war, it would make sense for both sides to bring in some allies. Just like a war between nations, one would assume some of these corporations, despite all existing within The Five, might be friendlier with some companies than others. If Wendy's fighting back against the island assault, she might find it prudent to call in some help. That's assuming none of the other three organizations want to capture the aliens for their own nefarious purposes. 

Most people probably don't tune into an "Alien" project for geopolitical debates. But "Alien: Earth" has already done a great job at showing how megacorporations dehumanize workers, treating the loss of human life as another business deduction. Lynch, Threshold, and Dynamic could enter the fray to upset the balance we see at the end of "Alien: Earth" Season 1 while continuing to offer commentary on this incredibly pertinent theme. 

The last few episodes of "Alien: Earth" Season 1 really show just how much control Wendy has over the xenomorphs. We see at the beginning of the season how she can understand their language and communicate with them, but it's clear she wields some influence over them as well. And after locking up Boy Kavalier, it seems as though Wendy has picked a side. She prefers hybrids and xenomorphs over regular humans. 

Throughout the "Alien" franchise, xenomorphs have always been the villains. Astronauts, scientists, and colonial Marines may have poked their heads into what was none of their business, but in those movies, we're clearly meant to empathize with the humans. Xenomorphs have acid blood and secondary mouths, so they're clearly the monsters, right? But "Alien: Earth" is setting them up to be something different. Wendy points out how the xenomorphs didn't ask to wind up on Earth. This positions the xenomorphs as more sympathetic characters, and in the grand scheme of things, Wendy could wind up becoming something more akin to an antihero than anything else.

Wendy has even soured on her brother, Joe (Alex Lawther). Even though she saved him from T. Ocellus, him harming Nibs (Lily Newmark) allowed her to see that she and the other hybrids are indeed different from regular people. The world will never see them as anything other than some combination of man and machine. But the xenomorphs don't care. They follow Wendy regardless of what she is deep down. The final episode of "Alien: Earth" Season 1 is titled "The Real Monsters," and it's possible the real monster through all of this is Wendy, if she gets on a path of vengeance.