As the title indicates, Alien: Earth was destined to bring Alien’s Xenomorphs to our planet. So how would the series translate the iconic movie monster to its new surroundings?

This was the challenge the team at Wētā Workshop encountered as they began their work on Alien: Earth. Vaughan Flanagan, a supervising art director at Wētā, and Joe Dunckley, a senior art director at Wētā, discussed their process with Mashable in a Zoom interview.

“We were very excited to delve into Xenomorph design, but we also felt quite apprehensive about it, since the Xenomorph is highly esteemed among many of our artists,” Flanagan mentioned. “There’s always that anxiety when it comes to altering the perfect creature.”

Wētā has previously worked within the Alien universe, having created the Facehuggers for Alien: Romulus. “Romulus was an incredible experience because [director] Fede [Álvarez] gathered individuals from studios worldwide,” Dunckley elaborated. “But the Xenomorph for Alien: Earth really presented our chance.”

Earthly creatures influenced the design of Alien: Earth’s Xenomorph.

In bringing the Xenomorph to existence, Wētā and Alien: Earth showrunner Noah Hawley were intent on not straying far from artist H.R. Giger’s original design.

“We were determined to maintain that silhouette — the stretched head, the tail, the tubing, all those elements,” Flanagan noted. “A lot of the areas where we aimed to innovate were within the finer details. This was a series set on Earth, so Noah wanted to gather a lot of inspiration from local creatures: crustaceans, insects, beetles, and so forth. Much of that was incorporated into the suit design.”

Initially, the Xenomorphs in Alien: Earth weren’t intended to be suits. However, as the show progressed in that direction, Dunckley and his team took charge of suit production.

“We began with the performance needs of the Xenomorph. The Xenomorph in Alien: Earth has to perform numerous tasks, so we required someone who could deliver the creature’s performance while also enduring the demands of the action in the series, as Noah intended for as much of it as possible to be practical,” Dunckley mentioned.

For this, Wētā collaborated with stunt performer and actor Cameron Brown, who portrays the Xenomorph from the Maginot in the early episodes of the season.

“One aspect I really aimed to convey was the animalistic nature of the creature,” Brown shared with Mashable during a Zoom interview. “A lot of that inspiration came from viewing the original films.”

To understand the Xenomorph’s movements, Brown drew upon his background as a stunt performer. “Much of my pre-visualization was, ‘How is this creature going to behave in various situations?'” Brown explained. “For instance, in the Maginot, how does it act when there’s no threat and it’s merely exploring? Or what is its response when facing an immediate danger? How does it confront that?”

How do you place a Xenomorph in the jungle?

In the second half of Alien: Earth Season 1, stunt performer Jayde Rutene took on the role of the young Xenomorph that Wendy (Sydney Chandler) learns to communicate with. (On set, the character is referred to as “Wendy’s Xenomorph.”) At this stage, Brown transitioned into an advisory role for Rutene.

“All of the initial exploration is, for me, the most gratifying part of filmmaking,” Brown remarked. “Then, when it came to passing all that knowledge on [to Rutene], I experienced that excitement again in the production, sharing the discoveries I made, and then observing my friend Jayde make her own discoveries.”

Given that Wendy’s Xenomorph frequently stalks through Neverland’s jungles, Rutene and the Alien: Earth crew needed to devise new methods for filming the Xenomorph outdoors.

“One of the challenges of performing in a creature suit is avoiding a human shape. You can wear an intricately designed and beautifully constructed Xenomorph suit, but if you simply stand there, it’s still just a person in a suit,” Brown stated. “Finding ways to break that illusion in a space like the Maginot, where the darkness and the use of lighting and tight spaces create advantages, was much easier than when we transitioned to the jungle. Aware that Jayde would be in more open areas, we needed to ensure that all our movements were foolproof for that.”

Wendy’s Xenomorph appears different.