Alien: Earth Season 2's Greatest Challenge Doesn't Involve Xenomorphs

Alien: Earth season 1 was another excellent entry in a science fiction horror franchise that seems to have a high floor and a higher ceiling. No matter the missteps an individual film or show might make, the central conceit of Ridley Scott's story is so good, it can buoy bad CGI, rehashed ideas, and plot contrivances.

The story is even better when an entry has none of those issues, and Alien: Earth stands up with some of the best the franchise has offered. However, that means expectations are high now, and viewers will be expecting more unique scares and intriguing plots when Alien: Earth season 2 premieres.

There are some fantastic, horrifying inventions in Alien: Earth, maybe none so creative as Trypanohyncha Ocellus, shortened in-universe to T. Ocellus, and shortened out-of-universe by the fanbase as "the eyeball monster". The eyeball monster combines the icky parts of that human organ with the nightmarish biology of H.R. Giger for the best extraterrestrial in the franchise since maybe the Xenomorph.

The eyeball monster looks like a slightly enlarged human eye sitting atop a stalk of tentacles with extraordinary strength for something so small. It uses these tentacles to rip out the eyeball of its victim, be it animal, human, or hybrid, and inserts itself into the cavity. The creature is able to change its eye to some degree, altering the color and number of pupils to match its host.

Once invaded, the host is essentially dead, but the eyeball monster taps into the nervous system and controls its host as if it's alive. When in control, it can force the host to act in ways it normally couldn't. It's a terrifying, brilliant creation and design, and it's going to be important that Alien: Earth season 2 finds a way to top it.

Alien: Earth Season 2 Needs Something Scarier Than The Eyeball Monster

Every new entry in the Alien franchise has presented at least one new abomination. Aliens had the Queen, Alien Resurrection had the Newborn, Prometheus introduced the Hammerpede, and so on. Alien: Earth presented four new creatures, each one with its own special, gut-wrenching way of offing people.

The eyeball monster stands above, though. It's not quite the right size, so anytime it's shoved into someone or some animal's face, the proportions are eerily off. The eyeball also appears to have an evil intelligence, maybe more so than the Xenomorph. It understands the digits of Pi, something a character says only an advanced civilization can understand, and it truly seems to hate other living things.

Alien: Earth season 2 doesn't need to up the ante as in introduce a creature even more evil and even more powerful, but it's going to need to present something as scary, if not more so. After seeing an eye-popping, head-inhabiting parasite, viewers are going to want to see the creature envelope pushed even further.

Alien: Earth Already Changed The Perception Surrounding Xenomorphs

Xenomorphs are still on the Mount Rushmore of the greatest creature designs ever, and 47 years later, it still holds up as a frightening, unique imagining. The movies rarely try to change the design of the creature, and the most effective alterations are the small ones, like making the Xenomorph larger for the Queen Alien.

Movies and shows have not been as cautious to make addendums to the lore of the creatures, though, and Alien: Earth presents an idea, hinted at in Alien: Covenant, that the Xenomorphs can be controlled in the right circumstances. Hopefully, along with a new disgusting baddie, we'll understand more about Xenomorph intelligence in Alien: Earth season 2.