In space, no one can hear you scream. But back on Earth — specifically, Austin, Texas, in the spring of 2023 — Sydney Chandler was screaming loud enough to startle her neighbors.
The actress had been on tenterhooks for two and a half weeks, anxiously waiting to hear whether she had landed the lead role in Alien: Earth. "That’s long when you’re waiting for something that feels like it’s going to change your world," she explains. When she finally got the call from creator Noah Hawley confirming she’d booked the role, she instinctively let out a jubilant shriek. "The pessimist in me always expects a no," Chandler says. "So, when I get a yes, I am very surprised. But then I get anxious, because it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to go do this now!’"
Watch the Under the Cover interview with Sydney Chandler.
And while Chandler did calm her nerves, her thrilling new series aims to rattle yours. Inspired by the groundbreaking sci-fi universe that brought us facehuggers and chestbursters, Alien: Earth (which premiered August 12 on FX and Hulu) marks the franchise’s first foray into episodic long-form storytelling — and the first Alien project set primarily on our planet.
Fast forward to 2120, when cyborgs (i.e., humans with biological and artificial parts) and synthetics (humanoid robots with artificial intelligence) exist alongside flesh-and-blood humans. On a remote island, wunderkind CEO Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) asks a sick girl to undergo a state-of-the-art procedure, and quasi-mentor Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant) assures her everything will be fine. Enter Chandler’s Wendy, the first adult robot infused with a child’s consciousness
While Chandler did manage to calm her nerves, the upcoming FX series aims to do the opposite for viewers. Alien: Earth — which premiered August 12 on FX and Hulu — expands the legendary sci-fi universe of facehuggers and chestbursters into its first-ever long-form episodic format. Notably, it's also the first installment in the Alien franchise to be set primarily on Earth.
At the center of it all is Chandler’s character, Wendy — the first adult robot fused with a child’s consciousness. The story kicks into high gear after a corporate spaceship crashes on Earth, leaving only one survivor: cyborg Morrow (Babou Ceesay). Wendy and a team of soldiers are dispatched to investigate, only to confront a terrifying threat — a Xenomorph, plus four other alien species. Despite her artificial design, Wendy is fiercely driven by the very human instinct to protect her brother, Hermit (Alex Lawther).
The timeline situates the series two years before Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien and just after the events of Alien: Covenant (2017). "The story is about the value of a human being," says Hawley, the Emmy-winning mind behind Fargo. “If you have these perfect organisms and perfect killing machines, why do we need our species? Except we do have these special qualities. That theme becomes the heart of the show."
Chandler provides its soul.
The lithe brunette with saucer-shaped brown eyes has only appeared in a handful of projects since making her on-screen debut in 2019. That was her as Chrissie Hynde in the 2022 FX limited series Pistol. She also happens to be the daughter of of actor Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights, Bloodline), though she needn’t fear the dreaded term "nepo baby."
Hawley raves that Chandler has the screen presence of a seasoned vet. "The hardest thing in a lead role is that you have to see every thought and feeling that a character is having when the camera is six inches away — and Sydney is transparent in a way that is rare," he says.
The three-time Emmy-nominated Olyphant, who racked up his first screen credit the year Chandler was born, was impressed as well. "That [age gap] gets lost on me, because I think of her as a pro," he says. "She’s on time, she’s curious, a pleasure to work with and she knows her shit. People tell you she’s a star, and I won’t argue with that. But she’s actually more. She’s an actress, and she’s really good."
Watch the exclusive interview with Sydney Chandler during the emmy cover shoot.
Noah Hawley himself wasn’t always allowed into the Alien universe. At age 10, in 1979, his parents nixed his invitation to a birthday screening of Alien, sending him to see The In-Laws instead. But when he finally watched the sci-fi horror classic as a teen, he was riveted. "What pulls you in is that the story starts so casually about these blue-collar workers," he recalls. "Then the monster emerges, and it’s a horror movie."
Hawley went on to write for Bones, author several novels and transform the Coen brothers’ Fargo into an acclaimed anthology series (with 70 Emmy nominations and seven wins since its 2014 premiere). After wrapping Legion in 2019, FX approached him with the idea of tackling Alien.
Hawley harked back to his initial feelings about the film and zeroed in on how to bring those deadly creatures to Earth. Because of the series format, he had to think bigger and wider. "An Alien movie is a two-hour survival story, but a television show has to last 30 or 50 or 70 hours," he explains. "So, you think, what is the show about? Who are the characters we’re investing in? Can you build something sustainable out of a premise meant to be finite? Those were the challenges."
To find the right ensemble, Hawley cast a global net. Ceesay (Into the Badlands), who grew up in Gambia, jumped at the audition while filming in Greece. Blenkin (Mary & George) sent in a self-tape and later met Hawley over tea in London. Lawther (Andor) had a similar experience. "I was worried, because Sam and I are both British and skinny," Lawther jokes. "Fortunately, Noah saw the light."
Only Olyphant received a fast-pass courtesy, having played Dick “Deafy” Wickware on season four of Fargo. In fact, Hawley wrote Kirsh with him in mind.
"I had told Noah years prior that if he ever sends me a call sheet, I’ll show up," Olyphant says. "So, he reached out and said he had something. I liked that you can’t figure out if you’re supposed to be rooting for Kirsh or against him."
But casting Wendy was especially tricky, because it required a grown-up who could tap into a child’s intellect and emotions. Hawley met with a few actresses over Zoom; Chandler was the only one so obsessive about the project that she flew to Calgary (where Hawley was filming season five of Fargo) for a meet-and-greet.
As Chandler tells it, she was up until 3 a.m. — repeatedly reading the pilot script; at some point after midnight, she realized she was all in. Impulsive to her core, she called her management team after the sun came up and informed them that she had already bought a ticket to Canada. "For some reason," she says, "he agreed to meet this random person!"
Though Chandler had an offer to star in a film, she emphasized to her future boss that Alien: Earth was her preference. "She said, ‘This is the character I want to play,’" Hawley recalls. Chandler still had to audition formally, but Hawley says she had an inside edge: "Look, that meeting went a long way. It was very meaningful to me that she went up there."
To read the rest of the story, pick up a copy of emmy magazine here.
This article originally appeared in its entirety in emmy magazine, issue #10, 2025, under the title "A Scream Come True"
