The Disney-backed do-over of a classic R-rated horror franchise finds a sneaky way around the industry shutdown

As easy as it is to be critical about Disney overseeing not just one, but two competing reboots of the exact same franchise, there is one reason above all to be confident about the Alien projects being spearheaded by Noah Hawley and Fede Alvarez.

Longtime fans were shocked, appalled, and genuinely fearful when it was first revealed the Mouse House was planning to dust off Predator again, only for Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey to wind up as the franchise’s best-reviewed installment ever, and it’s now officially a six-time Primetime Emmy nominee.

Then again, a shiver went down spines when the first rumored plot details from Alvarez’s Romulus made it sound like a teen slasher, but Hawley’s work on TV through the likes of Fargo and Legion has showcased his credentials and then some. His will be the first Alien project set on Earth, and it’s even managed to find itself a way of working around the writers’ and actors’ strike.

Pre-production is currently underway in Thailand, with multiple soundstages and equipment being hired out. The positive – at least for those who want to ignore the strikes – is that the majority of the people involved in the production are members of other unions such as Equity, with only two principal cast members being part of the Screen Actors Guild, which allows shooting to carry on without having to utilize those two talents in particular.

The optics aren’t great considering Bob Iger has become one of the most high-profile enemies of the various guilds already, but Disney’s episodic Alien might be coming down the pipeline faster than a lot of its contemporaries as a result.