3. Alien – The Xenomorph Originally Bites Off Ripley’s Head
The producers behind the Alien franchise can make all the sequels, reboots, and Prometheus prequels they want, but they’ll never come up with a more bad-ass main character than Ellen Ripley. But Ridley Scottoriginally had a much darker ending in mind for the character and Alien was very close to being Ellen Ripley’s only movie.
Despite having some reservations over the film’s material, the studio was impressed with Scott’s work and decided to let him do whatever he wanted. Sensing an opportunity to squeeze some more money out of the studio so he could film a final ‘fourth act’ of the film, Scott pitched a new and far more sinister ending: the Xenomorph bites off Ripley’s head. The Xenomorph would then record one last entry into Ripley’s log by imitating her voice before the movie fades to black on that haunting note. As dark as the film already is, the producers thought that ending was a bit too dark and would only write Scott a cheque if Ripley lived and theAlien died instead.
Scott thankfully abandoned that idea as not only would that have dramatically altered the Alien franchise for better or for worse, but the world would’ve lost out on one of sci-fi’s greatest female characters.
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