Our Sydney Chandler Alien Casting Exclusive Confirmed 

Our exclusive report that Sydney Chandler will play the female lead in Noah Hawley's Alien series has been confirmed.

By Sckylar Gibby-Brown | Updated

sydney chandler alien
Sydney Chandler as Chrissie Hynde in Pistol

Our trusted and proven sources were right once again, as our exclusive report that Sydney Chandler was cast as the lead in Noah Hawley’s Alien TV series was confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter. At this time, no confirmed characters or plot details have been released, but there is speculation that Chandler will play a character named Wendy who is trapped in a body other than her own due to a science experiment gone wrong.

The Alien franchise began in 1979 with Sigourney Weaver starring as Ripley in Alien, who then reprised her role for Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien: Resurrection, carrying the franchise all the way to 1997. Then, the franchise breathed new life in 2012 when Prometheus was released, starring Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw. Now, it looks like the franchise is ready for a new leading lady as Sydney Chandler will be starring in the Alien TV show revival.

The Alien TV show isn’t meant to be a reboot of the series but will be a brand-new extension of the Alien world. As details have not yet been released on how Hawley plans to bring in a new story, we must rely on the internet rumor mill for speculation of what the new series will be about. And so far, there’s been some pretty good ideas.

In late 2021, the site The Illuminerdi claimed to know the names and some details of the main characters for the Alien TV series. While all of the information has yet to be confirmed, it’s suggested that Sydney Chandler will play a character in the Alien show named Wendy, and she will not be inhabiting her own body. Instead, her mind will be in the body of a soldier due to an experiment gone wrong, making Chandler’s character the first body swap that the franchise has seen, though we’ve seen similar sci-fi tropes like androids and clones in the past.

Ripley
Sigourney Weaver as Ripley

Sydney Chandler’s Alien TV series is set only 70 years in the future, and it takes place on Earth. This is an odd time frame for the franchise to add in new technology like body swapping, considering that the other movies take place much further in the future (with the exception of Prometheus, which takes place in 2089), so you’d think this kind of technology would have been mentioned in the other films. 

FX CEO John Landgraf described how Sydney Chandler’s Alien was the “first story in the Alien franchise that takes place on Earth. It takes place on our planet, near the end of this century we’re currently in” and how he aims to create a world that is bold and different from the other Alien movies, but something that the fans of the original series can still appreciate. The creative team is already working on building a futuristic Earth, and they’re thinking about it from every angle, including environment, governance, technology, and creating and designing a futuristic planet without falling into any sci-fi clichés.

There hasn’t been a lot of information released about Sydney Chandler’s Alien series, and considering how Chandler is a fairly fresh face in Hollywood, it’s difficult to speculate how the show will do. However, considering Hawley’s involvement as the showleader, we have high hopes. Previously, Hawley worked on two highly acclaimed TV series, Legion and Fargo, so with him at the helm of this blockbuster spinoff, we’ve got a good feeling this show could be brought to epic proportions. 

sydney chandler alien
Sydney Chandler in Don’t Worry Darling

Before Sydney Chandler was cast in Alien, she rose to fame by appearing as Chrissie Hynde in the dramatic biopic about singer, songwriter, and frontwoman for the 80s rock band The Pretenders in Pistol. After that, Chandler appeared in the psychological thriller, Don’t Worry Darling. She will next be seen in the Apple TV drama Sugar.