For Hawley, overlaying Peter Pan onto Alien: Earth ‘s science fiction made sense because of the idea of trapping children’s minds in immortal bodies that were created, and ruled over, by a literal boy genius. Moreover, because Barrie’s work isn’t quite as anodyne and sweet as Disney’s animated film.

“The first thing I latched onto was the idea of humanity trapped between the monsters of our past and the monsters we’ve created with technology,” Hawley said. It’s a tension he sees baked into the original film, especially in the moment when Ian Holm’s character is revealed to be an android.

FX’s new “Alien” prequel, “Alien: Earth,” batters viewers expecting Xenomorph horror from an additional, less expected angle: The series is practically drowning in “Peter Pan” metaphors that don’t quite work.