A new visitor has crash-landed at Las Vegas’s Area 15. The massive entertainment multiplex was the temporary home to “The Wreckage”, an activation in honor of FX’s new show in the Alien franchise, Alien: Earth. Alien: Earth was announced on Alien Day, April 26th, with a trailer and an impressive cast list, including Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, and Timothy Olyphant. “The Wreckage” debuted at SXSW earlier this year, with guests lining up for hours to explore the exclusive in-world adventure. 

The lore of “The Wreckage” follows the USCSS Maginot as it crash-lands in Las Vegas. Guests navigate the wreckage and investigate some of the specimens that survived the crash. Unfortunately for guests, a containment breach has occurred. 

Guests are first presented with their Prodigy Corporation ID badge and must pass a security check. A member of Prodigy Corporation’s security team has to ensure all guests are free of all parasites, as this is an active crash site, and they cannot risk further contamination at the Weyland-Yutani wreckage. After security checkpoints and scanning the ID badges for clearance, guests are ushered in to investigate the wreckage. The Prodigy Corporation team members have been working diligently to decrypt the messages from the USCSS Maginot and discover what happened on board prior to the wreckage. There are several interactive checkpoints built for scanning the Prodigy Corporation ID badges to unlock more secrets from the ship- a thoughtfully interactive element of the activation. 

The Prodigy Corporation actors were extremely dedicated and somewhat militant. Atmospherically, their urgency and precision in handling materials were impressive. They brought guests to the containment vessels that landed intact and were viable specimens. These Weyland-Yutani containment vessels were housing several different unknown life forms, and Prodigy Corporation is eager to identify all the life forms being studied. Guests were handed blue light UV flashlights for investigative purposes, which unlocked further secrets within the wreckage. 

Several larger containment vessels housed eggs that were beginning to blossom- which is good news for science, but not good news for the Prodigy Corporation team members. Deeper in the experience, fear begins to creep into the staff. As they got closer to the unknown life forms and breaches, they were increasingly distraught. Some even were visibly on edge, requesting guests to keep their distance and move thoughtfully to not disturb the life forms. 

The experience concludes with guests boarding the wreckage of the USCSS Maginot itself. A small hallway that makes way to the rest of the ship is open, with one nearly frantic member of Prodigy Corporation monitoring the area. They warn that guests have to identify a code to plug into the ship, and there was a bit of an escape room-based puzzle to solve for the code. Naturally, the code was a number sequence very prevalent in the Alien franchise, but it was still fun to discover. 

The ship holds a massive secret stowaway, and the show-stopping number of the experience hits its apex within the halls of the USCSS Maginot. The absolute best of the Prodigy Corporation staff come out swinging with the finale. Atmospheric smoke and smells radiate through the hallway, and the true terror in the screams of the staff really makes you forget you’re in Las Vegas. 

The full experience is probably between 10-15 minutes from start to finish, and certainly had plenty of nods to the larger Alien franchise throughout. We experienced “The Wreckage” with team members of AVP Galaxy, who were absolutely delighted by the love and care that went into the experience. I was particularly impressed by the dedication of the actors- their world-building efforts drove the experience home and created so much urgency through the entire walkthrough. The message within is clear- the mysteries of space have made it to our home planet, and here, everyone can hear you scream. 

You can check out the trailer for Alien: Earth here: 

FX’s Alien: Earth debuts this summer on August 12th and will be available on Hulu. Will you be tuning in? We’ll be watching and reacting on our YouTube channel. If you’re watching with us, let us know in the comments!

Want more on the mysterious experiences at Area 15? Start with our coverage on Area 15’s John Wick Experience.