Raised by Wolves is an amazing post-apocalyptic series airing on HBO Max. Created by Ridley Scott (who also directed the first two episodes), it has quite a few moments that pay homage to the Alien series. But is it part of the Alien universe?
This article will have spoilers through Episode 9 along with theories, plus spoilers from Alien, and Prometheus.
There are plenty of moments that seem to pay homage to the Alien universe. I mean, just look at how the native species of Kepler 22B seem to act. There is the scene (which I included a photo of in the feature for this story) where one of the creatures knocks Mother down, crawls on top of here, and screams menacingly just like the Xenomorph of Alien. Granted, the Xenomorph is a lot scarier, but it’s caused some people to wonder if they’re related somehow. The answer, however, is no. They aren’t in the same universe.
The Showrunner & Ridley Scott Both Said Raised By Wolves Is Not in the Same Universe as Alien
But it looks like this is not in the same universe as Alien, despite all the homages to Alien, according to an interview with Showrunner Aaron Guzikowski. At 1:35 below, he answers that question:
He was asked by the interviewer if Raised By Wolves exists in the Alien universe and said: “There’s no literal connection… This show has a different version of what happened to Earth and so on and so forth. So it is different… Thematically there are a lot of things that connect with Ridley’s previous works. Some design elements, some aspects of the android that definitely take a page from what Ridley’s done in Alien… But there’s no direct connection to those mythologies.” (He also include Blade Runner as not being connected too.)
No, #RaisedByWolves is not in the #Alien universe. Here's proof. Share on XAfter the finale aired, Ridley Scott answered questions on Reddit and confirmed that the show isn’t in the Alien universe. He wrote: “Interesting question but, no, the first Alien story feels like it may be some time before Raised By Wolves, in that the Nostromo was probably financed by an organised global economy. Wolves is about post-global war chaos.”
There Are Many Thematic Similarities Between the Two
So although we’ll see lots of thematic similarities, they are not in the same universe. Still, people who don’t know that will continue speculating. Much of the speculation revolves around the Engineers of the Alien universe, which might bear some similarity to our RBW storyline. The Xenomorph Alien propagates like a parasite that bursts out of a host’s body. Their “society” is basically just a queen with a caste of warriors and workers. But the Aliens themselves might take on different forms depending on their host, which might cause some to wonder (wrongly) if we’re seeing that on Kepler 22B.
The Engineers themselves from Alien are an ancient terrestrial species with advanced technology, including genetic engineering. They are believed to have created mankind and are humanoid in shape. Ridley Scott said that the stone heads on Planet 4 in Covenant represented the six Elders of the Engineer civilization. In a podcast, Scott said that Engineers sometimes revisit planets they seeded with life to check on the results and possibly destroy the creations if they’re a disappointment.
Some believe that this same idea might be present in Raised by Wolves, and maybe Scott is seeing that idea take fruition in this series. It looks like, at the very least, the aliens of Kepler 22B have lured humanity (and Mother) to their home planet with the intent of somehow “birthing” a new hybrid creature in Mother. We learned that Sol (likely an alien race) sent the plans for the Necromancers to Earth, and the Mithraic people built the androids based on those plans. The androids then destroyed all the atheists, which led to the Earth’s ultimate destruction. If the aliens had seeded life on Earth initially, then this would be a strong parallel to the Engineers, with the idea that they destroyed their own creation.
Of course, that’s all speculation.
We do know that some Prometheus footage may have been in the show, but that might also just be a callback paying homage to Alien, not a literal “we’re in the same universe” moment.
There are some more callbacks to Alien that you might have missed. The “head on the box” in Mother’s vision reminder some to the Engineer’s helmet, causing speculation the two are connected. But once again, it’s likely just a design choice that’s a callback for Alien fans.
So no, the two aren’t in the same universe. This makes the new series that much more enjoyable, since it leaves us with no idea of where they’re going next.
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