Earth Creator Explains Episode 5’s New Horrific Creatures

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Alien: Earth episode 5!

Alien: Earth creator Noah Hawley has explained episode 5’s horrific new creatures and how they fit into the larger purpose of the series. Alien: Earth‘s new species have proven themselves formidable threats throughout the show so far, from tick-like leeches that suck out large amounts of blood to an alien that mimics the eyes of other creatures for survival.

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Grant Hermanns for the season’s halfway point, Hawley explained how the use of these creatures in Alien: Earth episode 5 elevated the horrors of what was happening aboard the Maginot. This includes how the tick creatures lay eggs in water, alongside the multiple life stages of the Xenomorph shown throughout the episode:

ScreenRant: But I’d love to know, you know, how much lore did you create for The Eye itself in the writing process, as you were plotting out this season?

Noah Hawley: Well, it’s interesting because there’s a longer conversation about the plotting of the season, and the writing of the season. My problem with with the outline phase is that the outline part of your brain is a list-making part, right? And the writing part is a different part. In that room that we had where, you’re at a disadvantage on some level, because everyone has seen an Alien movie before, so they’re thinking about structure and story. They’re in these archetypes, right? And I kept trying to say, “These creatures are where we need to really focus on the story.” So, what I found is, as I would rewrite drafts that came in, suddenly there was a sheep. And there was an eye image, and when I sat down to write episode 5, I did not have an outline for that episode. I know how it ends, right? But the water bottle gag, and the sandwich, and the surgery and all of that, that was just the discovery in the act of imagination of the writing of the episode. So, it’s always a balance. You need to know what happens in the story. You need to be able to prep and budget, and all of that, but you got to leave room for that discovery, as well.

ScreenRant: Well, I’m glad you left room for it, because it made for some nice surprises. I mean, the auto or the surgery definitely caught me off guard worth where that went. But it’s, yeah, it’s a wild time.

Noah Hawley: Yeah, that’s the fun. I mean, a Xenomorph is four creatures. And at every step, it’s a horrifying discovery. So, this idea that the ticks, they don’t just drink your blood, they lay their eggs in your drinking water? Alright, that’s horrible. And then, when you try to remove them, they have a neurotoxin that is a defense mechanism. Who knew, right? But it just keeps escalating. It’s the great thing about the movie Jurassic Park, is the hubris of thinking that you can control or contain nature when you don’t even know that that plant is poisonous. It’s the hubris of that, so watching it all fall apart, I find, is really fun.

What Noah Hawley’s Statement Says About Alien: Earth’s New Creatures

The characters of Alien: Earth have encountered a plethora of dangerous extraterrestrials across the series so far. While the Xenomorph remains the primary focus of the show, others have included the Eye, a deadly alien that hides in the eye socks of other creatures, seemingly taking control of them. The ticks laying eggs proved how little has still been revealed.

As for the other aliens, episode 5 offered more insight into them, contributing to Hawley’s Jurassic Park comparisons about humans not being able to control nature the way they think they can. His talk of the ticks in particular shows how, as the story of Alien: Earth unfolds, secrets about these dangerous creatures will likely gain a more central focus.

The show’s consistency in building these other threats up also helps to expand the Alien franchise, exploring new ideas in the form of these other extraterrestrial threats. Episode 5 highlighted not only how the show is able to successfully approach this, but also how these ideas can carry over into the present-day storyline on Neverland Island.

Our Take On Hawley’s Inspiration For Alien: Earth’s New Creatures

Based on Hawley’s statement, it’s clear that escalation is the core element that makes every creature in Alien: Earth a major threat to humans. Everything about the ticks, for example, makes them a death sentence once they’ve latched onto a victim. The same goes for laying their eggs in water bottles should someone drink from one of them.

Given how doomed the Maginot crew was by the time everything escaped, it doesn’t bode well for the humans on Neverland Island in present day. When Alien: Earth returns, it will likely explore these concepts more thoroughly, no doubt with another building body count. How it plays out, however, remains to be seen until the next episodes air.

New episodes of Alien: Earth arrive Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on FX and Hulu.