Timothy Olyphant Is Joining the Alien Universe

The world of Alien just got a whole lot sexier with the addition of actor Timothy Olyphant. The Justified star, who recently dipped his toe into another major sci-fi universe as Cobb Vanth on The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, has been cast in Noah Hawley’s upcoming FX show set in the universe of Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, and Prometheus.

Deadline broke the news of the casting and reports Olyphant is playing Kirsh, “a synth who acts as a mentor and trainer for [Sydney] Chandler’s Wendy who is a hybrid, a meta-human who has the brain and consciousness of a child but the body of an adult.”

If you’re wondering, “WTF are they talking about?”, we learned almost two years ago that this show is set well before any of the Alien films. It’s 70 years into our future and explores corporations using artificial intelligence and technology to offer immortality. It’ll also feature, somehow, the iconic xenomorph alien—but exactly how that fits in, we don’t know.

After finishing the current season of Fargo, Hawley began filming the sci-fi show in Thailand this summer with British actors who were unaffiliated with SAG, which was then on strike. Eventually though, he had to stop and now shooting is scheduled to pick back up in early 2024. Here’s hoping when that happens, Olyphant isn’t just a glorified cameo of some sort and that we get to see him throw down with some acid-blooded killers.

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