Noah Hawley on the TV Show Alien: Earth

How to adapt a beloved horror franchise for a modern audience

Matt here. Welcome to the first episode of Origin Stories! Our guest is Noah Hawley, a screenwriter, novelist, and Emmy-winning director.

He joins me to talk about his latest TV series, Alien: Earth, which grew out of a memo Noah was once asked to prepare for FX chief John Landgraf.

I was excited to talk to Noah because he's so good at putting his own stamp on existing franchises. One critic described his adaptations of Fargo and Legion and the Alien franchises as "songs in the key of," which sounds right to me – they honor the originals while taking the properties in strange and fascinating new directions.

Hawley discusses his creative process, his writing regimen, and the challenges and pleasures of adapting a beloved horror franchise for a modern audience.

To Hawley, good ideas have to be carefully nurtured carefully. “It's kind of like trying to feed a squirrel,” he says. “You're like, ‘No, no, come here, come here. It'll be okay.’”

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Thanks,

Matt