The "Alien" franchise does not, at first glance, feel like the kind of thing suited for the longform storytelling of television. It's a world whose greatest successes are built on high-concept hooks, executed well, in and out in your average blockbuster runtime — so of course there's the fear that stretching any narrative involving a Xenomorph out beyond that will dampen the energy and the blend of cosmic and sci-fi horror.

But "Alien: Earth" has a secret weapon, and that's Noah Hawley. The writer and producer who made "Fargo" a celebrated TV anthology and turned a semi-obscure Marvel Comics mutant into the trippy "Legion" can always be counted on to take risks, to push beyond the boundaries of what we think we know with these concepts. He's got a track record of making it work, and if an

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