THE NEXT CHAPTER OF FEAR

THE FX SERIES ALIEN: EARTH WENT TO THAILAND TO TELL A STORY THAT TAKES PLACE IN A HOTTER, WETTER, MORE OMINOUS WORLD

- STORY: MIKE HALE / NYT

April is the hottest month in Thailand. In the sprawling film production area known as the Studio Park, just outside Bangkok, walking between the air-conditioned soundstages is like staggering from boiling sauna to frigid pond.

The hundreds of Thai workers gabbing in the outdoor canteen appeared to be taking the heat in stride; among them, small groups of Westerners sat quietly, some just picking at their food.

"It’s hot," said Sydney Chandler, star of the FX series Alien: Earth, which was filming its first season here in April 2024. "I’m used to Texas, but this heat comes from below and above. It’s amazing."

For Alien: Earth, the extreme conditions were both a challenge and a feature. The show was drawn to Thailand by the up-to-date facilities and skilled workforce and by proximity to dramatic coastal and mountain locations. But its vision of Earth in 2120, when corporations have replaced governments and climate change has made the planet hospitable for all sorts of alien parasites, was also a good fit for the local natural environment.

"Look, it’s a story that’s set on Earth in the future," Noah Hawley, the show's creator and principal writer, said. "Part of the reason we're in Bangkok filming is, it's going to be a hotter, wetter planet." (Alien: Earth is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.)

Hawley has a track record for taking a familiar movie with an avid fan base and turning it into a successful television series: Fargo, his reimagining of the Coen Brothers’ Midwestern gothic crime thriller, has been nominated for 70 Emmys across its five seasons, and it won best miniseries in 2014.