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If you've been on Popverse at all lately, you know we've been keeping a close eye on what we're pretty sure is a new connected universe between the Alien and Predator franchises. We predicted that it was only a matter of time before the heads of those stories sit down and hash things out together, and lo and behold, we were right! 

Er, sorta...?

See, the showrunner of FX's small screen expansion of the Alien franchise, Alien: Earth, and director of the next big screen Predator outing, Predator: Badlands, have already been in talks with each other. But Noah Hawley and Dan Trachtenberg's conversations thus far have actually only been about making sure there aren't crossovers in their stories.

The news comes form an interview Noah Hawley did with GamesRadar ahead of the Alien: Earth premiere. During the discussion, the Legion revealed that he had been in chats with not only Prey director Trachtenberg, but another big player in the extraterrestrial thriller game - Alien: Romulus's Fede Álvarez.

"We [Hawley, Trachtenberg, and Álvarez] talk to the degree that we're trying to avoid duplication of story or inadvertent mimicry," Hawley said, "But in general, they're not all coordinated. What I've suggested, since there's a surprising paucity of mythology in the seven films, other than that there's a company called Weyland-Yutani... I've said, 'Well, you know, so if this show is a prequel to the movies, and I've made some choices about how humanity is organized: it might be helpful if you adopt those [choices] should the issue come up in your films,' Right? But otherwise, we're not really coordinating with each other."

At this time, that coordination doesn't even extend to those folks making Alien TV and Alien movies, according to Scott Free's David Zucker, who acts as a producer on Alien: Earth.

"[An Alien TV & film crossover] was just simply unapproachable for the longest time," Zucker told GamesRadar, "I mean, feature and television, particularly for these valuable film franchises, was just not a conversation you were even permitted to have [...] It’s interesting because we are still maintaining separate tracks, so there’s an awareness. But probably to the benefit of both endeavours, Noah’s been given his independence to really find the story he wants to tell, the way he wants to tell it."

Hopefully "the way he wants to tell it" will eventually come to mean "with Trachtenberg and/or Álvarez involved." Much as we're excited to see the xenomorph and yautja share the screen again, we're maybe even more thrilled with the idea of those creators collaborating.

Alien: Earth debuts on FX and Hulu August 12. Predator: Badlands comes to theaters November 7.

If you love aliens bursting out of chests and hugging your face, then we have all you could want from  Popverse's Alien watch order, details on where Romulus fits into the Alien timeline, and all you need to know  on the upcoming Aliens TV show with Timothy Oliphant.