‘Another Life’s’ Aliens, the Achaia, Have a Plan: Here’s What We Know

Another Life is the latest sci-fi thrill ride to pop up on Netflix, and boy howdy do fans have questions! As well they should, because Another Life is a show that builds up its own extraterrestrial mythology slowly over the course of Season 1. If you’re looking for answers about that alien spaceship, the big crystal tower, or what the F is going on with the people who come out of those towers, you’re going to have to wait and pay close attention.

That’s why we’re going to get to the bottom of Another Life’s big mystery. No, I’m not talking about the mystery of how many more random crew members are still enjoying some soma sleep while all hell’s broken loose (although now I am curious!). I’m talking about Another Life’s central alien mystery. Who are the Achaia and what do they want? Here’s everything we know so far.

Who are the Another Life aliens?

Which aliens are we talking about here? As of the end of Season 1, we know of two named alien species: there’s the Zakir (seen above) and the Achaia. The Zakir are a bat-like species of bipedal, intelligent creatures who were nearly wiped out by the Achaia. As Niko and the Salvare crew learn from a Zakirian A.I. (huh, now that I think about it, were Niko and Cas talking to that alien’s Amazon Echo?), the Zakirians hid from the Achaia for as long as they could but were eventually found 5 years, 14 months, and 56 days ago. The Achaia dropped a crystalline Artifact (just like the one they dropped on Earth) and began a massacre using still unclear methods.

Also…. 14 months? So… 6 years, 2 months, and 56 days ago? Anyway. All of this is revealed in Episode 10, “Hello.”

Who are the Achaia?

The Achaia are a conquest-driven alien race who, according to that Zakirian Echo, only want to bring about destruction. We’ve yet to actually see a member of the Achaia species, although we get very familiar with their tech–their spaceships, Artifacts, and tiny cybernetic brain spiders. We first hear their name spoken by a possessed Harper Glass in Episode 9, “Heart and Soul.”

If you want to know the origin of the name “Achaia” just in general, it’s an alternate spelling of the Greek regional unit Achaea. So if you want to see the real life Achaians, you can go to Achaia Greece.

Where are the Achaia? 

Above you’ll see the Achaia map of their realm. The Zakirian Echo places the Achaia home world, the heart of their empire, 427 light years away from Zakir and the Salvare. Their empire stretches across 336 star systems and counting. Also the Achaian map spells it “Zekir” while Netflix’s subtitles spell it “Zakir.” The Achaia are so shady, they can’t even be bothered to spell their conquest’s name right.

As for Earth’s Achaia, or Achaea, you can find it in Western Greece. Achaea is made up of five municipalities: Aigialeia, Erymanthos, Kalavryta, Patras, and West Achaea.

What is the Achaia’s plan?

According to the Zakir/Zekir, it’s total destruction. Their plan seems to be to crash one of their infinity-shaped spaceships into a planet to construct an Artifact, a massive crystalline structure, and then… well, destroy the planet’s population.

We don’t quite know how they accomplish this, although we have some clues. As we see starting in Episode 5, the Achaia use the Artifacts to slowly corrupt a planet’s inhabitants. Government liaison Sasha Harrison was possessed by the Achaia after getting lured and pulled into another Artifact on another alien planet. And on Earth, journalist/influencer Harper Glass was possessed by the Achaia after getting lost inside an Artifact. The Achaia then used Sasha to try and destroy the Salvare, after a possessed Sasha learned that the spaceship has the power to destroy a planet. Through Harper, the Achaia have been able to send a false message of peaceful intentions to her 250 million followers.

And how do they possess people? Through creepy brain spiders!

What’s with those creepy brain spiders?

The Achaia seem to sow discord on the planets they wish to conquer by possessing key figures with a cybernetic device that I can really only call a brain spider. Once the cybernetic critter is implanted in a victim’s brain, it’s able to cause hallucinations and control a person’s speech and actions. It kinda acts like a lil’ devil on the person’s shoulder urging them to do its evil bidding–and if the person doesn’t comply, the brain spider just takes control and does it anyway. That’s what happened when a possessed Sasha grabbed Zayn (JayR Tinaco) and nearly killed them. We know these are key to the Achaia’s conquest because Niko found the remains of a brain spider embedded in a Zakirian skull in a mass burial site on the alien planet.

As far as I know, the real Achaia/Achaea has zero brain spiders. However, there is a real species of moth classified as Achaea catocaloides–which, somehow, is only found in Africa and not Greece!

We will most likely learn more about the fictional Achaia aliens if Another Life Season 2 happens. Will it? We don’t know yet, but if you want to see more, make sure you binge all of Another Life Season 1 ASAP.

Stream Another Life "Hello" on Netflix