Alien: Earth: parents' guide
Best for ages 15 and up. Rated TV-MA.
A tense, gory sci-fi horror series for older teens who already like the Alien films. Set shortly before the original movie, it follows terminally ill children whose minds are moved into synthetic adult bodies, just as deadly creatures escape a crashed research ship. Expect bloody kills, chest-bursting creatures, mass casualties, frequent f-words and lots of smoking, but very little sexual content. A hybrid with a child's mind is killed, and the premise itself involves dying children cut off from their families. Intense frights and gore, not sex, set the age at 15.
What's in it
Violence
StrongCreatures kill people in bloody ways: some burrow into soldiers' necks, facehuggers attach to victims, a man is cut in half, and a newborn creature bursts from a man's chest. A ship crash kills hundreds, and humans fight with guns and knives.
Language
StrongPlugged In counted more than a dozen f-words in the first episode (Movieguide counted 13), plus a handful of s-words and words like 'ass' and 'hell.' Strong language continues through the season.
Sex and nudity
MildNo sex scenes. Crew members wake from cryosleep in underwear, a synthetic leers at sleeping women, and a hybrid with a child's mind touches her new adult body and asks about puberty.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateOne character smokes cigarettes frequently, and others smoke cigars. A character speculates about drugs in the food supply, but no drug use or heavy drinking is shown.
Scary or intense scenes
StrongExtremely tense overall, with jump scares, terrifying creatures, an eyeball-shaped parasite that takes over a sheep, and several chest-burster deaths. The child hybrids are told they can never go home to their families.
Sensitive topics
- Death of a child
Worth talking about
The show asks whether a person is still the same person in a new body, and who gets to own them. Talk about what the corporation's treatment of the children says about money and power.
On our lists
Similar picks around 15+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Wikipedia, movieguide.org. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.