Alien: Earth Episode 4 Release Date, Time, and Where to Watch

Alien: Earth is created by Noah Hawley, who also serves as the showrunner and director for selected episodes. It is the latest addition to the popular Aliens franchise and takes place two years prior to the events of the 1979 original film.

Episode 4, titled “Observation”, is set to be released in the United States on Tuesday, August 26, 2025. It will air at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FX and will also be available for streaming simultaneously on Hulu. 

The main cast of Alien: Earth includes Sydney Chandler as Wendy, who is the first synthetic hybrid with a human-like mind. Hermit, played by Alex Lawther, is Wendy's hybrid brother who experiences a terrible identity transition after discovering the real Wendy was his sister who passed away.

Timothy Olyphant plays Kirsh, Wendy's and the other hybrids' artificial tutor. Dame Sylvia, the chief scientist in charge of the hybrid program, is portrayed by Essie Davis.

The first season of the show comprises eight episodes, each with an approximate runtime of an hour.  On the film and television rating website Rotten Tomatoes, Alien: Earth has been certified 96% ‘fresh,’ while the audience score stands at 72%. 

Release dates of all episodes of Alien: Earth

Alien: Earth comprises a total of eight episodes, which will release one by one on subsequent Tuesdays on FX and Hulu. The complete release schedule of the show is presented in the following table:

Exploring the plot of Aliens: Earth 

Set in the dystopian future of 2120, the story of Alien: Earth takes place when the planet is ruled by five megacorporations. The most prominent among them is Prodigy Corporation, led by tech genius Boy Kavalier. His most significant work is transferring the consciousness of terminally ill children into synthetic adult bodies and creating the first "hybrids.”

When the USCSS Magit, a Weyland-Yutani research vessel, crashes in Prodigy City with several alien species aboard, including Xenomorphs and new parasitic monsters, Wendy and her fellow hybrids, together with their artificial mentor Kirsh, set out on a mission to protect the crash site. 

Incorporating themes of identity, corporate abuse, and transhumanism into horror-driven sci-fi, the series attempts to weave a narrative with emotional depth. Hawley's audacious prequel offers a genre-rich extension of the Alien story, where corporate dystopia and terrifying alien life forms first meet on Earth.

Disclaimer: The following article contains the author’s opinion and spoilers from Alien: Earth episode 3. Reader’s discretion is advised.

Alien: Earth episode 3 recap 

FX’s Alien: Earth. OFFICIAL TRAILER. We were safer in space. Premieres August 12 on @fxnetworks | Hulu and with #HuluOnDisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/rCGXwI44LZ

— Hulu (@hulu) June 5, 2025

Titled Metamorphosis, Alien: Earth reveals Kirsh’s work with the newly acquired Weyland-Yutani alien specimens, under the instructions of Boy Kavalier. While the endgame is yet to be established, it involves a small piscine alien taken from a specimen within a Xenomorph egg and one of Joe's surgically removed lungs. 

While rescuing her brother Joe, Wendy fights against the Queen Xenomorph that has been terrorizing all beings since the pilot episode. She manages to slice off the Xenomorph’s head, but gets injured along with her brother in the brutal fight that takes place. 

The episode ends with a tease, as Boy Kavalier saves Joe’s life by inserting his alien-infested lung back into his body. The effect of such an experiment is yet to be seen, but it can be expected to fit into Boy Kavalier’s greater, morally gray secret plan.

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