But they aren’t alone.
The Newborn, a grotesque human-Xenomorph hybrid that sees Ripley as its mother, has followed them. In a last-ditch effort, Ripley uses her own acidic blood to melt a viewport on the ship. The vacuum of space does the rest, horrifically sucking the creature out into the void as the Auriga explodes in a silent, fiery bloom.
In the final scene, the survivors hover safely above Earth. Call turns to Ripley and asks the question hanging in the air: “What’s next?” After 200 years away from a world she no longer knows, Ripley can only shrug. “I don’t know,” she admits. “I’m a stranger here myself.” It’s an ending steeped in uncertainty.
In the final scene, the survivors hover safely above Earth. Call turns to Ripley and asks the question hanging in the air: “What’s next?” After 200 years away from a world she no longer knows, Ripley can only shrug. “I don’t know,” she admits. “I’m a stranger here myself.” It’s an ending steeped in uncertainty.
The monster is dead, but Ripley is adrift, a living weapon with alien DNA, a psychic link to a dead species, and no place to call home.
But this quiet, ambiguous ending wasn’t what writer Joss Whedon (Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) originally had in mind. He envisioned a final act that didn't just hover above our world but crashed right into it. In at least five different drafts, he brought the cosmic horror of the Alien franchise down to Earth for a final, brutal showdown.
Why?
Because Whedon understood that to truly raise the stakes, the monsters had to come home. He wanted to force the characters, and the audience, to confront the consequences of weaponizing alien life. His alternate endings weren't just about escaping a spaceship; they were about fighting for the soul of our planet.
The tide turns when it bites Call. The android’s synthetic blood proves toxic, poisoning the creature from the inside. Seizing the opportunity, Ripley uses a magnetic crane to hoist the metal-laced Newborn into an industrial compactor. It survives the crush, forcing Ripley to deliver the final blow herself by impaling it with a metal pole. This version was a gritty, action-packed finale that gave each character a heroic beat, but it was ultimately scrapped for being too expensive. All that remains is a haunting glimpse in the 2003 Special Edition: a silent, digital shot of the ruined Paris skyline, a nod to the epic battle that could have been.
This ending relied on a deleted scene featuring a "Harvester," a monstrous, reaper-like farming machine. As Ripley plants explosives beneath the Newborn, Call arrives at the controls of the Harvester, grinding through trees toward them. Together, they force the creature into the machine’s massive blades, shredding it in a gruesome shower of acidic blood and falling snow. This triumphant, team-based victory would have perfectly capped Ripley's arc from hunted to hunter, but since the Harvester scene was cut, this ending vanished along with it.
This ending would have twisted the franchise’s themes of motherhood and creation into a deeply personal nightmare. Ripley 8, a clone “mother,” would have been forced to kill her monstrous “child” in a sanctuary for human infants. The claustrophobic setting would have mirrored the tense horror of the original Alien but brought it to our home planet. While budget concerns ultimately shelved this idea, it remains a powerful statement on the film’s core themes of birth, identity, and monstrous creation.
While cheaper to film, this version was ultimately rejected because it lacked impact. Whedon himself worried that a desert could easily pass for just another alien planet, undermining the core idea of Earth itself being under siege. The fight needed to feel like it was happening in our backyard, not on a generic, sandy world.
The Paris Junkyard
Whedon’s most famous alternate ending lands the survivors in a post-apocalyptic Paris. The Betty crash-lands, and the final battle unfolds in a sprawling junkyard, a graveyard of twisted metal and rusted cars under a ruined Eiffel Tower. Here, the giant Newborn hunts the crew, brutally killing the soldier DiStefano.The tide turns when it bites Call. The android’s synthetic blood proves toxic, poisoning the creature from the inside. Seizing the opportunity, Ripley uses a magnetic crane to hoist the metal-laced Newborn into an industrial compactor. It survives the crush, forcing Ripley to deliver the final blow herself by impaling it with a metal pole. This version was a gritty, action-packed finale that gave each character a heroic beat, but it was ultimately scrapped for being too expensive. All that remains is a haunting glimpse in the 2003 Special Edition: a silent, digital shot of the ruined Paris skyline, a nod to the epic battle that could have been.
The Snowy Forest
In one of his earliest drafts, Whedon traded industrial grit for eerie, fairy-tale horror. Here, the Betty crashes in a snow-covered forest. The fully-grown Newborn, now sporting menacing tentacles, emerges from the shadows of the pines like a monster from a forgotten myth. After realizing their ship’s thrusters can only stagger the beast, Ripley lures it into the woods.This ending relied on a deleted scene featuring a "Harvester," a monstrous, reaper-like farming machine. As Ripley plants explosives beneath the Newborn, Call arrives at the controls of the Harvester, grinding through trees toward them. Together, they force the creature into the machine’s massive blades, shredding it in a gruesome shower of acidic blood and falling snow. This triumphant, team-based victory would have perfectly capped Ripley's arc from hunted to hunter, but since the Harvester scene was cut, this ending vanished along with it.
The Maternity Ward
Perhaps the most unsettling concept places the final clash in the last place you’d ever expect to see a Xenomorph: a hospital maternity ward. Imagine the horror of the Newborn, a perversion of birth itself, stalking Ripley through dimly lit hallways lined with bassinets and incubators, its monstrous form silhouetted against the symbols of new life.This ending would have twisted the franchise’s themes of motherhood and creation into a deeply personal nightmare. Ripley 8, a clone “mother,” would have been forced to kill her monstrous “child” in a sanctuary for human infants. The claustrophobic setting would have mirrored the tense horror of the original Alien but brought it to our home planet. While budget concerns ultimately shelved this idea, it remains a powerful statement on the film’s core themes of birth, identity, and monstrous creation.
The Desert Wasteland
As the budget tightened, Whedon proposed a simpler, more stripped-down finale set in a vast desert. After crash-landing, the survivors would drag the fight out into the barren dunes, a desolate landscape where the bleached sun and sweeping winds offer no comfort. Here, Ripley would rely on guerrilla tactics, setting traps with salvaged parts from the Betty before facing the Newborn among the scrub and rocks.While cheaper to film, this version was ultimately rejected because it lacked impact. Whedon himself worried that a desert could easily pass for just another alien planet, undermining the core idea of Earth itself being under siege. The fight needed to feel like it was happening in our backyard, not on a generic, sandy world.
Why We Never Saw Earth
So why did none of these ambitious finales make it to the screen?The answer is simple: money. Creating a convincing, ravaged Earth, whether a ruined cityscape or an expansive forest, and staging complex action sequences was far beyond Alien: Resurrection’s $75 million budget.
20th Century Fox wanted to contain costs, betting that the Alien brand alone was enough to draw audiences. The film's director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, ultimately preferred the more contained, ambiguous ending on the spaceship, which was both cheaper and left the door wide open for sequels.
Looking back, Whedon's abandoned finales feel like lost opportunities to push the franchise in a bold new direction. They all asked a terrifying question: what happens when the Xenomorph war finally hits home? Each ending offered a different vision of a shattered Earth, from a world of industrial decay to a twisted fairy tale, from a psychological house of horrors to a primal wasteland.
Ripley’s final line in the theatrical cut, “I’m a stranger here myself,” hangs in a void. Whedon’s alternate endings would have forced her to find an answer, transforming her from a drifting survivor into a warrior fighting for a world she barely knew. Though we never saw them, these “what ifs” haunt the franchise, reminding us how production realities can shape a story and leaving us to imagine the hiss of a Xenomorph on home soil.
Looking back, Whedon's abandoned finales feel like lost opportunities to push the franchise in a bold new direction. They all asked a terrifying question: what happens when the Xenomorph war finally hits home? Each ending offered a different vision of a shattered Earth, from a world of industrial decay to a twisted fairy tale, from a psychological house of horrors to a primal wasteland.
Ripley’s final line in the theatrical cut, “I’m a stranger here myself,” hangs in a void. Whedon’s alternate endings would have forced her to find an answer, transforming her from a drifting survivor into a warrior fighting for a world she barely knew. Though we never saw them, these “what ifs” haunt the franchise, reminding us how production realities can shape a story and leaving us to imagine the hiss of a Xenomorph on home soil.
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