FX’s upcoming Alien TV show has the opportunity to revive the franchise, and also pay off Alien: Resurrection‘s orphaned alternate ending. It’s an interesting time to be an Alien fan. It’s been more than three years since the most recent entry into the series, that being 2017’s Alien: Covenant, directed by Ridley Scott. That film wasn’t exactly beloved, and while its 2012 predecessor Prometheus has its fans, it’s far from what most would call an Alien movie.
Before that, in 2004 and 2007, came the misguided Alien vs. Predator crossover movies, neither of which impressed most fans. The first has a few strong scenes and performances, but the sequel is best left forgotten. With that in mind, it’s been over two decades since fans got a proper Alien sequel, which came in the form of Alien: Resurrection. It was a bit weird, and starred Sigourney Weaver as a hybrid clone of Ripley, but still mostly felt like an Alien movie.
While details on the Alien TV show, set to be creatively guided by Legion‘s Noah Hawley, are sparse so far, it already sounds like this could be the project that gives fans of the original Alien franchise what they want. It’ll also be the first proper Alien story set on Earth, but that almost happened much earlier.
It’s no secret that Joss Whedon’s script for Alien: Resurrection was heavily altered on the way to the big screen. He’s been quite forceful about his distaste for the final product as a result. This very much extends to the ending, which was planned to conclude on Earth. While the surviving characters are headed there in the theatrical cut, it concludes before they actually arrive on the surface. Whedon wrote multiple ending variations which saw Ripley 8 and Call reach different areas of a post-apocalyptic Earth, then have to fight the Newborn Alien monster. The only one of these partially shot sees Ripley 8 and Call near a burned out Paris.
The idea was to make an Alien 5, which Whedon also had a script for, that continued on from Resurrection, with Ripley 8’s further adventures on Earth. However, Sigourney Weaver hated this idea, feeling the franchise belonged on far off planets in the outer reaches of space. It’s unclear what condition Earth will be in when the Alien TV show begins, but finally doing a story on Earth gives the show the perfect opportunity to provide a belated pay off to what Alien: Resurrection could’ve started. Whether Hawley will make use of any prior Earth-centered Alien movie concepts remains to be seen.
Originally from https://screenrant.com/alien-show-earth-resurrection-canceled-ending/