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UPDATE: Michael Biehn confirms that he’s returning as Hicks in Neill Blomkamp’s Alien sequel

by 100 Comments

UPDATE: Turns out this is actually a fake Instagram account, which has now been deleted…

Here’s some news that’s bound to please fans of 80s sci-fi action! Michael Biehn has confirmed that he’s set to reprise the role of Corporal Duane Hicks from 1986’s Aliens in Neill Blomkamp’s as-yet-untitled Alien sequel.

Posting on Instagram in response to a comment about his scheduled appearance at Sheffield Film and Comic-Con in the UK, Biehn stated that, “I’m not looking at scheduling conflicts with the Sheffield Comic Con, due to my contract for Aliens to begin filming during then.”

An earlier post from Biehn stated that: “”t’s official. I will be reprising my role as ‘Cpl.’ (Not for long…) Dwayne Hicks. With the go-ahead, Hicks will return with Ripley in mid 2017. Perhaps Hicks and Ripley well eventually get to second base in this one…”

Fan favourite Hicks was featured in the original concept art that Blomkamp posted for his then-unofficial Alien sequel, which has since been given the greenlight from Fox and will also see Sigourney Weaver back as Ripley.

SEE ALSO: How Neill Blomkamp will ruin Alien and every other franchise

Are you excited about the prospect of seeing Michael Biehn back on the big screen as Hicks?

Comments

    • A) He “died” at the start of Alien3 after being impaled by a girder during the UEV crash landing. This new Aliens film is set after Aliens but before Alien 3, or rather… Blomkamp isn’t considering Alien3/Resurrection for his story.

      B) Technically the retcon already happened, with the canonised Colonial Marines. Hicks wasn’t in the sleep chamber, it was somebody else Hicks put in to throw WY off the trail. As much as we don’t like it, I dislike his inglorious pointless death at the start of Alien3 a whole lot more. Colonial Marines sucks massive balls, but at least it fixed THAT injustice XD

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        • Hicks was not supposed to die with newt in the crash, it angered everyone that they created this great partnership between ripely and hicks and newt but then for Alien 3 they just decided that they all should die in a crash? It has been seen as a complete disaster and it was not supposed to happen. Also, if you like the original alien 3 so much you should know that the script had them on a WOODEN spaceship with monks.

          The point of going back and creating a new movie after aliens is to take the story in the direction it was planned and supposed to go before they changed it to the wooden spaceship bullshit.

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          • yes it sure does i can honestly say that out of all of them the only one they shouldnt have bothered with was alien ressurection didnt interest me at all

          • Yup, Resurrection was a ridiculous mess that had no reason to exist. Alien3 finished off the story quite nicely, Ripley’s story was at an end and she foiled WeyYu and wrapped everything up. Resurrection was just ridiculous.

            Still, we’ll see what Neill can do and hopefully it’s the start of a fresh new return to Aliens. Both Sigourney and Michael are too old to go off on a new series, but this one film could bring back the Aliens saga and that’s what I’m hoping … especially after the, sadly canonised, piece of crap in Colonial Marines.

          • alien 3 was a joke. hicks and newt just die like that? you know the script was originally a wooden ship with monks too? No, Alien 3 was a good watch, but in terms of script it was a total cop-out, thats why most people only see alien and aliens as canon, the rest is just “fun films” with nothing interesting to take away or think about.

          • Well if you are going to bring up original scripts as a negative (I have no idea why seeing as the final film was not what was in the original script) then the original script for Aliens was not even an alien movie at a all.

        • Alien 3 was horrible. Every bit of it. More power to you if you liked it i guess. But it was a slap in face to the previous movie. I don’t think attempted rape of Ripley in a rejected NIN music video set was a step forward for the series.

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        • The nail in the Alien 3 coffin for me was the immediate killing-off of Hicks and Newt. Cameron provided a really interesting setup for Alien 3, with Ripley, Hicks and Newt becoming a family. They could’ve taken some pretty cool routes with that premise… but the studio decided “People just want to see Sigourney by herself, like in the first two movies, so kill the other two off!” Alien 3 is the perfect example of a meddling studio ruining a franchise.

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          • Where exactly did you get the whole ripley/hicks getting married and adopting newt from? They had some chemistry but that was about it. The best thing about Alien 3, even though it was changed so much with all the budget cuts and studio interference, was that it showed the universe the Alien series was placed in was not a happy one. Having newt and hicks die at the very beginning of the film pretty much cemented this telling you, that just like the previous 2 movies, a happy turnout was never going to be on the cards. Why must every movie have to end with the main characters happy and buying his and hers matching bathrobes? This was an excellent direction. And yes the Assembly Cut was great.

          • Santo didn’t mention that Ripley/Hicks get married and Newt is adopted. He wrote about them becoming a family. That’s one of the themes of Aliens, one of the CORE themes.

            Ripley goes into the movie with her daughter long dead and she’s completely alone. She discovers Newt and begins to reconnect with her maternal side, In a similar way Hicks becomes protective and paternal of Newt, however we have no back story to Hicks as to why he does this, it’s just part of his character. The three of them become a functioning “family unit” during the movie, this is evidenced with Ripley’s refusal to let Newt die and the comradeship and understanding between Hicks and Ripley. Hicks is not Ripley’s love interest, but he is Newt’s surrogate father during his time in the movie.

            On the other side of the story are the Aliens, they are also a family unit, albeit one we do not fully comprehend or understand and only perceive as evil. However you can see and hear distress from the Alien Queen when Ripley destroys the eggs and you experience the determination of the Queen to gather revenge upon the people who destroyed her brood (and start a new one).

            The film at the end literally degenerates down to a brawl between two mothers who have lost their children. Only Ripley has found new purpose in Newt and as such her new found family wins the struggle.

            That, in a rough nutshell is one core reason why Alien 3 is almost universally disliked. On some level most viewers instinctively understand the subtext of motherhood and family in this movie and we do not appreciate that Alien 3 undermines it in a matter of moments.

          • I have a little trouble seeing it the way you do, though dont misunderstand me saying your view point is wrong or anything. From all the times I’ve watched it I never got that surrogate father from Hicks thing you mention. He was like most of the other characters who helped Newt during the film. He never really went too far out of his way than he needed to. His role was mainly military leader. He took a fancy to Ripley and liked the way she said and did things, but was mainly with her as protection since she wasnt exactly a soldier. Every one else was off doing what they were ordered to do. He stuck close because it was his role to do this since he wasnt out on the front line.

            Theres a couple scenes when Ripley is trying to get after Newt, her falling through the airduct or Ripley trying to get through the grate after the Alien has taken her away in the water section. Both times Hicks pulls her back, though specifically in the second example. Ripley clawing her way to go after her, Hicks not. I’d imagine he would of helped smash the grate completely in and then both jumped in after her since they were only a little behind.

            There are other examples of Hicks not being fatherly like or more held back. I believe people seeing him as a father figure are mostly wanting to see the 3 of them as a family and little else. I dont recall the two even kissing. It was mainly situational moments, little else. One direction it could have gone would be them together, yes. But there was nothing in the writing saying there was a HUGE chance this would happen. A Little flirting was the most that ever happened.

        • Assembly Cut was acceptable. But I really want to know how the royal egg got onboard the Sulaco. Especially since the opening showed that it didn’t seem to be in the landing bay for the second dropship.

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          • Go back and Watch promethus. This movie showed how stuff on that site was already there from aliens from before doing science experiments

      • I liked it, but would not be at all sad if Alien3 & 4/Resurrection were ignored as “dreams” or some such.

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      • Wow. I guess there’s ‘one’ everywhere. There’s no need for any of that. If you can’t accept another person’s point of view – name calling doesn’t make you any smarter. Move on man.

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    • He aint dead! Whats dead to 90% of us is Alien 3 and Resurrection! Those 2 movies were GARBAGE!

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  2. Prometheus was terrible, this will be even worse. The concept are is crap and they are taking a giant steaming dump over canon

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    • This movie has nothing to do with Prometheus. Yes, Ridley Scott IS going to come out with a sequel to Prometheus, and yes, people will hate it because everyone else is. However, this is simply a continuation of the Alien series, not the sequel to Prometheus. They’re two very separate movies.

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    • Yeah, this will definiately mess up the canon. I mean AvP and AvP 2 will be embarrased by the new one. Who the F knows what is canon in the Alien franchise? What statement was made?

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  3. Millions of fans have been begging and screaming for a proper sequel to James Cameron’s ALIENS. This is amazingly good news and the universal rejoice I’ve seen on Twitter and other websites makes this feel like some wonderful dream.

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  7. Just don’t let Blomkamp write the screenplay. I wasted $12 on Chappie this weekend. It was like a 12-year old wrote the script.

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    • Blomkamp played a game called Natural Selection 2, that’s all. That or the artist who drew the concept pictures did.

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  9. Yay, Michael Biehn is gonna come out in a shitty movie directed by one-hit wonder Neill Blomkamp. I’m so excited to see a film that has fantastic imagery and no plot. i also like that the fanboys will suck this guys dick, eventhough Chappie and Elysium were not really good movies.

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    • Elysium wasn’t bad, it was watchable. Damon was miscast, though he was properly casted in Interstellar, but the film wasn’t a total disaster, it just did not provide much depth and had a few weak points.

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      • You know how I know that Elysium was bad? I knew exactly what was gonna happen in the film. It was so predictable I thought was watching a Saturday morning cartoon. Plus i enjoyed watching Prometheus more then Elysium. Honestly I don’t understand the Alien 3 hate thing thats going on. Most of you guys weren’t even born when the movie came out. Its pointless hate.

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        • I watched it when first day it came out, way back when. I love Aliens and 3 took a huge turd on it. Killing off Hicks and Newt, a mystery zenomorph messing up the ship, Ripley getting impregnated? There was no good explanation for any of it. If there has been since I don’t know because I’ve tried to erase any memory of that garbage from my mind.

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          • Fanboys suggests an emotional response to Alien 3, and may people have that. However even when assessed on a purely logical and intellectual level Alien 3 is just terrible.

          • ? Have you seen chappie? It makes Michael bays transformers look like the Godfather. And most people who point out that Alien 3 was bad because of the death of hicks and newt. Give it a break you guys, its suppose to be a horror movie were “horrible” things happened. You guys seem to be okay with Games of thrones killing off characters but wont let go of a 20 year old movie that was trying to be different? Weird

          • I’ve heard this complaint before. That there was no explanation for it for the face huggers being on the Sulaco.. Only that there was a queen alien that made it onto the dropship at the end of Aliens hence into the Sulaco itself. Eggs being laid on the Sulaco prior to the queens reveal is not outside of being practical. I would say this is more plausible then the possibility of the queen sneaking into the dropship from the landing platform prior to the get away.

        • i was born in the 50s saw a lot of sci fi, and if alien 3 was a stand alone film it would have been pretty good, the problem people have with it was that it killed off several much-loved characters early on for no reason. Elysium was of course predictable and campy, but had some nice visuals and big budget sci fi is so rare that that was enough.

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  10. This is absolutely outstanding news, and the proper pathway the studio should have taken in 1991/92, with the ensemble of Hicks, Bishop, Newt and Ripley carrying the action in a proper Alien 3. So many directions they could have taken rather than scuttling several excellent characters and the plot on that dump of a prison planet, just awful scripting. The audience for this will be huge.

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  12. Now all we need is Lance and Carrie on board and for Neill to change his mind and make his entry erase 3 and 4.

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      • I don’t know. I think you might wanna check your sources again about whether 3 and 4 will be ignored.

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  13. For the love of everything holy, I hope Blomkamp does not make this into an allegory about oppression and apartehid. I dont want to feel sorry for the aliens. Space marines, guns, acid blood splatter. Rinse and repeat.

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  14. Alien3 should be treated as a fucking nightmare Ripley had then wakes up with Hicks and Newt, only they’ve aged 20 years and near earth orbit. Remember the end of Aliens? “Can I dream now?” “I think we can.” wallah, Alien3 never happened.

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  15. Perhaps he could be a Hicks clone or Hicks droid and he’s brought in to mess with the head of the Ripley Clone Mark 204. Whatever it is, it’s utter bobbins! I’d have more respect for this movie if it an original idea had been thought of along a new set characters had been created, instead it’s once again new money for old rope and we’re the mugs going to be queuing for this film.

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  17. Alien 3 was just a giant money grab and a director wanting to make aname for himself. They even said that they didn’t have the money to make an Alien film but he made it anyway to make some cash. Killing off Reply was just something to get people into the cinema. Wasting all those amazing characters was a travesty. I’m happy Alien 3 will get thrown into the didn’t happen bin but I don’t think Camp will pull off a good movie.

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  18. Do they age during cryosleep? how’s this going to work? I wonder if the girl that played newt is hot by now?

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  19. At the end of “Aliens”, Ripley, Newt and Hicks went into the suspended animation pods. So “Alien 3” and “Alien Resurrection” were Ripley’s hypersleep nightmares. Start this new flick where “Aliens” left off. Problem solved. Does anyone think that would hurt sales of “A3” and “AR” DVDs? Who cares? Nobody’s buying them anyway. Would it cause nerds to flip out because the Alien canon is disrupted? So what? They’ll get over it. I guarantee every nerd in the world will go see this new flick. They’ll go to “Prometheus 2” also.

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  22. There’d better be Colonial Marines. & pulse rifles. (for bonus points, Cheyenne dropship action & Hudson comes back to life somehow)

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  23. Yes, because what we need, is Aliens 2.0. Aliens is great, fantastic even, one of the best action movies ever made. But we don’t need a second one, we need a proper Alien sequel. Of the three original films, Aliens is the least Alien of the bunch. It’s just too conventional a movie, it’s a well executed crowd pleasing blockbuster, complete with a happy surrogate nuclear family, but it’s more Starship Troopers than it is Alien.

    Let’s drop the action shtick and take the story back to what it was. A slow paced, dark, sexual film about a rape monster from space.

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  25. Regardless of how anyone felt about Alien 3 or Resurrection, there can be no debate on how Fox heavily compromised both films specifically the third film. That being said there are too many examples of why this is the case to go into and it should come as no surprise in today’s retcon environment that Fox has decided to go back to the money well to “correct past wrongs.” As far as Hicks and Newt deaths are concerned, although very unceremonious, in my opinion I think it was necessary for Ripley’s character arc to have to go it alone and deal with the hopelessness of starting over. I believe Weaver even mentions this at one point years ago. As a fan, it seemed overly dower to have both of them die and I loved Hicks character and wanted Ripley to get what she seemingly wanted. Again concerning the overall arc it would of been the kind of happy ending that this franchise would be better without.

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  27. Hicks being back is a good indication that Blomkamp will do the right thing, which is to pick up the story after Aliens and set it in a better direction. Even the near 30-year age difference can be easily justified if Alien 3 and Resurrection are ignored. Ripley, Hicks and Newt could have returned home and moved on with their lives. Ripley could have retired to live with Newt and Hicks could become the new head honcho of the Colonial Marines. Weyland-Yutani could fund a new mission to retrieve the Juggernaught with its remaining eggs from LV-426 and make new technology out of it, which would explain Blomkamp’s concept art of Ripley wearing “Alien” bio-suits. Something of course has to go wrong and Aliens have to become a threat once again, which would drive the new story.

    I respect those who liked Alien 3, Resurrection and are also loyal to the timeline of the franchise. Fine, no one is forcing you to throw out your Alien 3 and Resurrection blu-rays. Keep them; cherish them. But the majority consensus among fans is that Alien 3 ruined the story. It’s a well made film, but with a story that was a slap to the legacy of Aliens. That is the wrong that I hope Blomkamp will turn into a right for the sake of the Alien franchise.

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  29. Thank GOD these Alien 3 and Resurrection shits are being nuked …. i bet the ones who like these movies think T3 is awesome as well

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  31. I understand why they may have killed off newt…having a little girl running around a prison with rapists, most likly pedo’s would have been too contriversal…I still diddnt like her dying though, maybe if it hadent been on a prison in the first place? hmm…and then theres Hicks…he should have been the 1 to protect Ripley from other prisoners not charles dance.

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    • this new aliens movie will hopefully sort out some of the mess alien 3 made. Not sure whats happening with the newt character though. Are they bringing her back as a 27 year old? I know its meant to be years later after aliens.

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