'Alien: Earth' episode 5 was its own 'Alien' movie. Here's how they made it.
Sep 5, 2025
Let's dig into the "Morrow-as-Poirot" chapter.
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0:00
We see a lot of the ship in episode five, which is almost its own alien movie
0:04
It's almost like a small, like an hour alien movie. What made you want to make this almost detective Poirot Columbo moment? Yeah
0:13
Well, I mean, some of it was the unanswered question, right, of what happened on the ship that made it crash
0:20
We kind of cliffhanger this moment in episode four, and then, you know, the tension for the audience of not seeing for two weeks what's going to happen next there
0:32
But some of it is just selfishly, you know, I wanted to make an alien movie
0:39
One of you is trying to destroy my ship. and that's why I directed it
0:46
I didn't give it to another filmmaker because, you know, it was really exciting to go
0:54
all right, well, I think I can do a trapped in a spaceship
0:59
what happened, and then adding the mystery element to it. I think you innovate within the story
1:05
and I think that that... It's the same thing with the number of creatures, right
1:09
I'm used to, in Fargo, it starts as five movies, and then it becomes one movie, right
1:15
And for me, it's the confluence of all the pieces so that by the last 10 minutes, you're like, oh my God
1:21
All of it is now colliding in this way that gives you a feeling that maybe you've never had before in an alien movie
1:29
It's not just like there's a xenomorph run away. It's like, where could you run? Exactly
1:33
And the beauty of this moment is that there's a seamless fluidity to the season
1:37
but certainly what was so daunting to look at as Noah was embarking upon this and episode five I think is a great example there a lot in here that really shouldn work
1:47
You shouldn't be able to stop the story in the way that he does, and yet, as you identified, in some ways it brings a different kind of thrill
1:55
to the narrative experience because you are getting so much information that you were sort of exposed to from that sort of initial prologue
2:06
and you would never anticipate that you'd then dive headlong entirely in this
2:11
and meet a whole new crew, but that it would have such meaning to the overall story he's telling
2:16
Mauro is, he's a cyborg, but he almost acts like a synth
2:21
He's so cold. But then in episode five, we get Mauro as Poirot
2:26
Like, can you take me through this? Mauro as Poirot, I love that
2:30
This detective sort of miniature alien film. What did that mean for your character
2:37
Look, it's incredible to even have the opportunity to be on the ship for that whole time
2:42
And of course, you know, a whole new cast of characters appeared who are just phenomenal
2:46
I remember when Noah was telling me about the episode, because at that time it hadn't been written and there was a strike
2:52
so he had to sit down and pitch it to me. And he sat down and basically walked me through it
2:57
And I love the description that you gave, because that's exactly how I felt. Although I'd go for Columbo more. Yeah
3:02
I mean, I'm a Columbo person myself, yeah. This ship collected five different life forms
3:11
from the darkest corners of the universe. Monsters
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