What if Ripley Died in the Original ‘Aliens’?

Part of what I enjoyed most about Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is her character’s strength in the initial 1979’s Aliens movie. The battles between the Xenomorphs and Ripley make up the core story lines of the three sequels (Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien: Resurrection) that followed the original film.

In a recent Entertainment Weekly interview with director, Ridley Scott, he shared how he originally considered an alternate ending that would have Ripley killed by the Xenomorph in the final battle.

The version that actually made it to film had Ripley barely escaping the Xenomorph by harpooning it out into space and then incinerating it as it attempted to enter through a heating thruster. She then records a final log before going into hyper-sleep.

In Ridley’s proposed ending, after Ripley harpoons the Xenomorph, rather than getting thrown into space, it would come forward and rip her head off. The creature would then record the final message in Captain Dallas’s (Tom Skerritt) voice.

Apparently after pitching this conclusion to the studio, Ridley could sense that they were not into it. In fact, one of the executives arrived on set shortly thereafter to ensure that the ending did not go in that direction. As alternate endings go, having Ripley perish at the hands of the Xenomorph in the first film would have surely sent the franchise in a whole different direction and I for one am glad that it didn’t!

Can you imagine the ‘Alien’ franchise without Ripley?

Also, don’t forget the next installment in this classic franchise, Alien: Covenant, is slated for release in May.