The first two episodes of Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth are now streaming on Hulu, and so far, critics and fans alike appear to be loving it. Despite already contradicting a popular fan theory, the series boasts a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score and is expected to gain even more popularity as future episodes air. But as good as Alien: Earth is, you can only re-watch the two available episodes so many times without getting sick of them. If you’re looking for something else to watch with the same sci-fi movie-turned-TV show vibes, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
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It’s only natural to finish Alien: Earth and still hunger for some Grade-A science fiction. But sci-fi is a broad genre, and jumping from the corporate-owned dystopia of Alien: Earth to the moneyless utopia of Star Trek: The Original Series wouldn’t feel right. You want to follow up Alien: Earth with something gritty, something grounded. Something that evokes nostalgia for an ’80s property while expanding on it and going in its own direction. In short, you want our picks for the three sci-fi shows you should watch after Alien: Earth.
1) Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles
One of the major plot points of Alien: Earth revolves around the universe’s three different kinds of artificial life—synths, cyborgs, and hybrids—duking it out to become the last android standing. So it only makes sense to go from that show to Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a series that also revolves around artificial intelligence and mechanical life. Acting as an alternate follow-up to Terminator 2, The Sarah Connor Chronicles follows Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) and her son John (Thomas Dekker) as they continue to try and stop the evil Skynet from becoming sentient and kicking off a future war between humans and machines.
Far from the usual cheapo, TV cash grab, hoping to make money off of its big screen counterpart, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles introduced a wealth of new lore to the Terminator universe and was generally well received by fans of the franchise. Along with the human resistance and Skynet, both introduced in the original Terminator, The Sarah Connor Chronicles featured a new Cyborg Resistance started by machines that had switched sides and were now fighting against Skynet and a faction called The Grays, consisting of the opposite: humans that had jumped ship and were now working alongside the machines.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles isn’t currently available to stream, but episodes can be purchased from Prime Video and Apple+.
2) Alien Nation
One of the things fans love about the Alien franchise is the blue-collar, down-to-earth way it deals with the future. Many go as far as to refer to the Nostromo crew as “space truckers,” a stark contrast to the explorers and galactic wizards found in fellow sci-fi franchises, Star Trek and Star Wars. Alien Nation, an all but forgotten gem from 1989, presents its world in a similar fashion.
Based on a movie of the same name, Alien Nation takes place in a fictional version of 1991 where a UFO containing 300,000 aliens appears above L.A. After a three-year quarantine, the aliens, dubbed “Newcomers,” are integrated into human society where they face the same bigotry that plagues human minorities. Like the best sci-fi, Alien Nation used the fictional Newcomers to tackle real issues like racism, sexism, and homophobia while still finding time to find humor in the little quirks that differentiate the aliens from us, like their predilection for getting drunk off of spoiled milk.
Much like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Alien Nation isn’t available to stream anywhere. Fortunately, you can find the entire series on YouTube in reasonably good quality.
3) Andor
Normally, we’d consider Star Wars the furthest thing from Alien in terms of tone and aesthetic, but Andor isn’t your typical Star Wars. Andor takes a darker, more realistic approach to the Empire and its particular brand of space fascism. Andor, like Alien: Earth, takes a popular film series and expands upon themes and ideas only hinted at on the big screen. It uses its extended format to examine life for the average galactic citizen under Imperial rule, something the movies never really take the time to get into.
Another thing Andor and Alien: Earth have in common is their attention to detail and the way they perfectly recreate the retro-futuristic aesthetic of the first films in their respective franchises. Both shows somehow manage to nail the look of 70’s science fiction without coming off as cheesy or silly looking. If you have access to Disney+, we can’t recommend Andor enough, especially if you’re looking for a sci-fi series to watch following Alien: Earth.
What do you think, are these TV Shows good picks for a post Alien: Earth binge-watch, or is there something better? Let us know in the comments.
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Image Courtesy of Marvel Studios -
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
