The first half of Alien: Earth has already cemented the boy genius as a corporate villain, who Hawley told The Hollywood Reporter could be a nod to a certain tech billionaire he stops short of naming. Whereas the future of the franchise means we know Weyland-Yutani will remain focused on harnessing the power of the Xenomorph, Prodigy’s future (if there is one) has its “eyes” on a very different prize. Kavalier has developed something of an obsession with the Trypanohyncha Ocellus eyeball monster, which is currently embedded in a sheep at his island lab. Episode 5 is set before this, showcasing an interesting conflict between the classic xeno and this new species. There’s an action-packed fight aboard the bridge of the Maginot, with the xenomorph battling a T. Ocellus that’s embedded in the brain of engineer Shmuel (Michael Smiley)
There are several important takeaways here, particularly how the T. Ocellus uses Shmuel’s vocal cords to summon the xenomorph with its classic chittering. Alien: Earth has already cleared up some confusion about how xenomorphs communicate, possibly suggesting a hive mind mentality and some sort of connection to Sydney Chandler’s MVP, Wendy. If the T. Ocellus is able to communicate with the xenomorph, it’s either been studying them closely or already has an innate knowledge of the acid-bleeding beasts.
Over on Reddit, fans have theorized that the xenomorphs and the T. Ocellus have a long-held rivalry similar to the one that was played out between xenos and Yautja in (the non-canon) Alien vs. Predator. Hawley said that he only took Alien and Aliens into account, but remember that Prometheus depicted a xenomorph-looking creature inside the Engineer facility on LV-233. Many accept that they’re an ancient species that wasn’t inadvertently created by Michael Fassbender’s David, meaning xenomorphs and T. Ocellus could’ve been fighting for eons. Adding to the theory, some have posited that xenomorphs have evolved without eyes to avoid attacks from the T. Ocellus. As one person says: “Is it just a coincidence that the xenomorphs have no eyes? Or are they that way because of T. Occelus, like are they natural enemies?” Others have noted that the xenomorph’s infamous inner mouth looks like it would be perfectly evolved to pluck an eyeball from a socket.
Even though xenomorphs have shown impressive levels of ingenuity over the 46 years we’ve been watching Alien movies, are they being outsmarted by a conniving eyeball? “In Space, No One…” also features the T. Ocellus trying to warn Karen Aldridge’s Chibuzo about an escaping Blood Tick (or potentially distract her), whereas the eyeball calling the xenomorph to the bridge gave Morrow and Zaveri (Richa Moorjani) more time to try to escape.
