Spoilers follow.
The Xenomorphs of the "Alien" franchise are often paired with the Predator in pop culture conversations, due to their famous cinematic showdowns in the early 2000s (and ongoing connections between the "Alien" and "Predator" series). However, the two are quite different. Predators, or Yautja, as is their actual species name, are fully sentient aliens with cultural practices, advanced technology, spaceships, language, and everything else you'd associate with a sentient race. The Xenomorphs,
on the other hand, are generally portrayed as animals/insects -- albeit extremely dangerous ones. But the franchise's latest entry, the FX series "Alien: Earth," may be changing that understanding.
In episodes 3 and 4 of "Alien: Earth," we learn that Wendy (Sydney Chandler) has some sort of connection to the Xenomorphs acquired by Prodigy. She can hear them "speaking" when no one else can, and she feels their pain on a visceral enough level that it causes her to faint. All very mysterious, but the most intriguing moment in this storyline so far comes at the end of episode 4 when the baby Xenomorph implanted in CJ's (Alex Lawther) removed lung hatches. The creature, still small, appears to have a genuine moment of connection with Wendy, "speaking" with her in its own "language," as if it thinks she is its mother.
The next question logically follows: Are Xenomorphs actually sentient? Or at least, are they more advanced and intelligent than previously shown in the franchise?
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A Brief History Of The Xenomorph In The Alien Franchise
Over the years, we've learned more and more about how the Xenomorphs actually work, though various films, comics, and video games often handle things a bit differently. In general, the creatures are shown to be incredibly intelligent, but in the way that you might characterize a smarter animal, like an ape, or a raptor in "Jurassic Park." They have advanced problem solving skills, are incredibly observant, and rarely make the same mistake twice, showing that they have immense capacity for learning. Their hive-based social structure suggests a more centralized intelligence, but this isn't explicitly confirmed in any main canonical sources.
Depending on how you define sentience, the Xenomorph could absolutely fit the label. They exhibit fear and occasionally seem to take pleasure in the hunt. But there is nothing to show definitively that they have higher, logical thought, beyond their capacity for memory, solving problems, and avoiding danger. Xenomorphs also change much based on which organism they gestate inside, so it's likely that using a more intelligent host species would result in a more intelligent alien.
These more animal behaviors can also explain how the baby Xenomorph in "Alien: Earth" is able to engage more communicatively with Wendy, as the creatures regularly display similar degrees of communication with one another. The larger implication, then, would seem to be that the Xenomorph sees Wendy as one its own, or otherwise feels some sort of kinship. Why that is, and how Wendy is able to hear sounds no other human or synthetic can, remain a mystery.
Why Can Wendy Hear The Xenomorph In Alien: Earth?
There's almost certainly some new piece of "Alien" lore we've yet to learn in "Earth" that will explain Wendy's Xenomorph connection, and it probably has something to do with her experimental synthetic body. Or, rather, it probably involves the specific process of placing a human consciousness in a synthetic body. Prodigy is the first company to attempt the procedure, and Wendy is the first human to undergo it, so there's room for surprises. Perhaps the combination of a supercomputer brain and a human mind gives her access to a higher spectrum of communication, or maybe it's something more eldritch and strange.
The bigger mystery is why the other Lost Boys of Neverland don't hear the aliens the way that Wendy does. What makes her special, other than her having spent slightly more time in her new body?
In a franchise that's always been interested in the theme of motherhood, it's hard to look at Wendy's creepy moment with the baby in episode 4 and not think of the various alien queens from throughout the franchise. There are various ways that a Xenomorph can become a queen and start a hive. Could this particular Xenomorph's strange circumstances have somehow caused Wendy, a synthetic human, to take on that role somehow?
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.
