Raised by Wolves creator says it's a 'close cousin' to the Aliens universe, but doesn't quite 'link up'

When a sci-fi franchise comes partially directed and executive produced by Alien franchise master Ridley Scott, fans are going to have theories. Especially when there's androids, weird babies, alien parasites, and more linking the worlds. But HBO Max's Raised by Wolves, despite a finale that seems closer to Prometheus than anything else, isn't a canon piece of the Alien puzzle...even if it's a close relative.

Speaking to Deadline, series creator and writer Aaron Guzikowski explained its relationship to the epic sci-fi universe created by Scott. 

"Obviously, I was hugely influenced by all of [Scott's] work, Prometheus included, for sure, and when I first met with him, we talked all about it," Guzikowski remembered. "But there was never any concern with him in terms of how it was going to connect to his other stuff. He more wanted to just kind of take it for what it was. And obviously, there’s a lot of homages to the other stuff he’s worked on, I mean, because he’s built this whole visual vocabulary in terms of modern science fiction."

But as iconic as those visual and thematic elements may be, including Scott in the creative process may have brought the two so close together that fan theorists could find links if they really stretched. However, Guzikowski shut them down. "So, it was interesting, but we never talked about how specifically the series would fit into that mythology, nor was that really ever the goal," the writer said, "...it’s a close cousin, and it can kind of sit alongside it, but technically speaking, the mythologies don’t link up, necessarily."

Well, "necessarily" is quite a hedge even after all that. Maybe in Season 2 fans will find out more? Guzikowski did hint that the story would be moving to the tropic region of Kepler-22B when they shoot "some time early next year, hopefully."

"And we’ll be going back to South Africa, and obviously, in different locations because we’re going to be on a different part of the planet; so a very different sort of environment that we’re going to be looking at for season two," the writer explained. Guzikowski also teases more from a new faction of humans, a possible "schism in terms of time and space," and Mother's weirdo seventh child. Basically, the sophomore season of this show is gonna be bananas.

Raised by Wolves will return to HBO Max for its second season at a later date.