Timothy Olyphant has gotten some small screen sci-fi experience in recent years, popping up as Cobb Vanth on The Mandalorian and The Book Of Boba Fett. That surely puts him in good stead to deal with marauding alien creatures now that he's planning to reunite with Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley for the latter's new TV spin-off of the Alien movies.
Hawley's series is set roughly 70 years in the future and on Earth, so it remains to be seen how the story will link up with the films. Little has been revealed about the series, which stars Sydney Chandler, though Deadline has learned that Olyphant has the role Kirsh, a synth who acts as a mentor and trainer for Chandler’s Wendy who is a hybrid, a meta-human who has the brain and consciousness of a child but the body of an adult.
The cast also reportedly includes Alex Lawther as a soldier named CJ, Samuel Blenkin as Boy Kavalier, a CEO, as well as Essie Davis as Dame Silvia, Adarsh Gourav as Slightly and Kit Young as someone named Tootles.
Hawley and his team started shooting the series in Thailand this past July, four days after the actors' strike began. It filmed for around a month with actors who weren't covered by SAG-AFTRA (such as British equity performers), but then shut down. It's scheduled to gear up again early next year. If the xenomorph acid goo should trouble Olyphant's legendary hair, there will be riots.
On the big screen, of course, the Alien flag will next be flown by Fede Alvarez, who has Cailee Spaeny starring in what we now know is titled Alien: Romulus.
And according to Spaeny, there's a clearer idea of when the new movie is set: "It’s supposed to slot in between the first movie and the second movie," she tells Variety. "They brought the same team from Aliens, the James Cameron film. The same people who built those xenomorphs actually came on and built ours. So getting to see the original design with the original people who have been working on these films for 45-plus years and has been so much of their life has been really incredible."
That one should be on screens in August next year.