With anticipation building for the latest movie in the Alien franchise, Alien: Covenant – a sequel to 2012’s Prometheus – Ridley Scott has revealed that Ripley escaping alive wasn’t what he initially wanted for the ending of his 1979 classic Alien.
In the film, when Ripley is the last one standing after the Alien has devoured the rest of her crew, she jettisons the creature, records her message and settles down for a nice bout of hibernation.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Scott discussed his first rather fittingly sombre ending for the horror masterpiece that has inspired an entire genre.
“Before she slammed the buttons to open the door, I think she [Ripley] hits the buttons and the Alien holds on to the door”, he said. “She harpoons, it makes no difference. It comes forward and it slams through her mask and rips her head off… I’m pitching this to the studio from Shepperton and I could feel the tension over the phone”.
It gets even more horrific from there as Scott explains, “Then, I cut to the desktop and the Alien’s hand comes and [taps on the buttons] and then, in a perfect mimic, mimics [Tom Skerrit’s dead ship captain] Dallas’s voice, saying, ‘I’m signing off’”
Well, it certainly would have made for a different future for the franchise, but after an executive threatened to fire Scott for this original ending, the climax was swiftly changed.
Alien: Covenant is set for release on May 19th and is penned by Michael Green, Jack Paglen and John Logan. Prometheus stars Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace return alongside new cast additions Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice), Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down), Demian Bichir (A Better Life), Billy Crudup (Watchmen), Jussie Smollett (Empire), Carmen Ejogo (Selma), Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color), Benjamin Rigby (That’s Not Me), Callie Hernandez (Machete Kills) and James Franco (Why Him?).
Originally published April 5, 2017. Updated November 30, 2022.
