FXAlien: Earth has been touted as a prequel to Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien, but as we get closer to the release of Noah Hawley’s ambitious new FX show, it’s clear the connection is loose at best. At an early preview of Alien: Earth at SXSW attended by Inverse, Hawley was vague on whether the series would be canon to the movie franchise. “I chose not to engage with that part of the story and to just sort of speak to the Alien that I had encoded,” Hawley said.Now, it’s been confirmed that Alien: Earth will exist “in parallel” to the movie franchise. In a glossy preview feature for the series, FX Entertainment president Gina Balian told Variety, “Everything doesn’t have to fit together the way you expect from Marvel. Fans don’t expect that in this universe. It doesn’t have the same pressure.”That basically confirms that Alien: Earth will not be canonical, instead building its own world based on the franchise’s lore and iconography. Knowing Noah Hawley, whose other acclaimed TV projects like Fargo and Legion were also unrelated to their source material, this is no surprise.Don’t count on an Alien: Earth crossover with Romulus. | 20th Century StudiosBut while no one was clamoring for a Fargo cinematic universe, it does feel like a strange direction for a show that comes amid renewed franchise interest following the recent soft reboot sequel, Alien: Romulus. And with the new Predator movie teasing its own Alien crossover, it seems like the Alien universe is about to get a whole lot bigger. Why set your series two years before the events of 1979’s Alien (a very specific date!) if you weren’t going to build out that universe?But this is a Hawley series we’re talking about, so of course his Alien show is simply going to be an experimental riff on an established franchise. And judging by the recently released teaser, Alien: Earth seems like it will be rich enough to stand on its own. The new teaser introduces us to the world of Alien: Earth, where four companies, including the infamous Weyland-Yutani, are in a race to rule the universe. To aid their battle, the corporations created new life-forms, including Cyborgs, Synths, and the newly created Hybrids. Alien: Earth will follow a group of Hybrids (terminally ill children placed in artificial bodies), led by the intrepid Wendy (Sydney Chandler). Their enhanced abilities are put to the test when a Weyland-Yutani ship carrying dozens of dangerous alien species crashes in a crowded city, unleashing the Xenomorphs on Earth.The teaser gives us a glimpse at more aliens than we’ve ever seen in the movie franchise, including a big centipede-type creature, and what looks like an eyeball with tentacles. And we get, of course, a glimpse at a classic Xenomorph. It’s an intriguing tease of what’s to come, and feels like a step into a whole new universe. And with Hawley not feeling the pressure to lead up to the events of the original Alien, it’s hard to predict where the series could go next.Alien: Earth premieres with two episodes on August 12 at 8:00 p.m. ET. on FX on Hulu.