Alien: Earth Boss Explains Why Wendy Had [Spoiler] Kill the Soldiers

Noah Hawley recently spoke about a pivotal moment in Alien: Earth. In a new interview, the creator reflected on Wendy’s drastic choice in episode seven and shared how it ties into the series’ bigger ideas. He also touched on what this means for the role of the xenomorph going forward.

Noah Hawley on why Wendy ordered the Xenomorph to kill soldiers in Alien: Earth

The Hollywood Reporter asked Noah Hawley why Wendy ordered the xenomorph to kill soldiers in Alien: Earth.

He explained that Wendy is only twelve, noting, “There are some executive function issues going on. I don’t want to take the moral onus off of it, but I think she’s angry at the way that [the hybrids have] been treated and what they did to Nibs, and she’s lashing out.” He emphasized that part of her journey is learning about consequences.

Hawley tied Wendy’s actions to the larger theme of communication with xenomorphs, an idea seeded in James Cameron’s Aliens. “Obviously, there’s that moment in Cameron’s film where the queen communicates with the drones. Is that a pheromone? Is it telekinetic?”

He continued, “Is that a frequency we can’t hear? We don’t know, but that always seemed really interesting as something to explore.” This exploration allowed the show to extend the alien canon beyond two-hour survival stories.

He also framed Wendy’s relationship with the creature as part of a moral debate. “She wants to believe that it’s not these creatures’ fault, that they didn’t ask to come here, and we shouldn’t experiment on them the way that she’s being experimented on. You can understand the rationale. But it doesn’t make it safe to make friends with one.”

He said this idea posed one of the show’s biggest risks. “One of the big question marks was if fans were going to go with this idea. I don’t want her to have [a xenomorph as a] pet. But if it seems like an alliance has been struck, what are the interesting possibilities that we can pull out of that?”

Hawley said the storyline raises a core tension. “Humanity is a choice for her now, and the more she chooses to be human, the safer everyone will be.” He added that her detachment from human morality fuels the question of whether she might become a monster herself.