Most of what we’ve learned about Alien: Earth so far has been incredibly vague. There’s an Alien, and it’s on Earth, and that’s… well, that’s mostly about it. But we’ve just learned when we can expect to actually see it… and also a lot, lot more about its setting in the Alien timeline.

This morning FX and Hulu confirmed that Alien: Earth will premiere this August, alongside a bevy of new images from the show, which begin to lift the lid on the series’ premise. Alien: Earth is set in 2120, just two years before the events of the original film, and follows life on Earth as it is dominated by the corporate interests of five governing companies: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic, and Threshold. Each of those five corporations in racing to unlock the key to immortality, advancing human longevity through the development of synthetic life and cybernetics. But things heat up when Prodigy’s CEO announces that the company has managed to synthesize those two fields and create the very first hybrid form of life: Wendy (played by Sydney Chandler), a human consciousness merged with a synthetic android body.

Alien: Earth First Look Images

Wendy lives in Prodigy City, the company’s all-encompassing HQ, alongside other hybrids, preparing to usher in a new age for humankind… which Weyland-Yutani doesn’t like very much. So, in what can only be described as an extremely hostile corporate takeover, the company intentionally crashes one of its research vessels, the  USCSS Maginot, into Prodigy City, unleashing its surviving Xenomorph passenger, onto Wendy, the rest of the hybrids, and everyone else now trapped in Prodigy City. Oops!

As you can see in all the new preview images above, Alien: Earth has quite the cast, including Andor‘s Alex Lawther, the legendary Timothy Olyphant, and many more. Here’s a full breakdown of the new cast and their roles (including one very interestingly named person at the end):

  • Sydney Chandler as Wendy
  • Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh
  • Alex Lawther as Hermit
  • Samuel Blenkin as Boy Kavalier
  • Babou Ceesay as Morrow
  • Adrian Edmondson as Atom Eins
  • David Rysdahl as Arthur Sylvia
  • Essie Davis as Dame Sylvia
  • Lily Newmark as Nibs
  • Erana James as Curly
  • Adarsh Gourav as Slightly
  • Jonathan Ajayi as Smee
  • Kit Young as Tootles
  • Diêm Camille as Siberian
  • Moe Bar-El as Rashidi
  • Sandra Yi Sencindiver as Yutani

Alien: Earth begins on FX and Hulu August 12, with episodes streaming internationally on Disney+.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

This post was originally published on this site