10 First Draft Movie Ideas Better Than What We Got

10. Newt & Hicks Survive - Alien 3

The Original Idea

In 1987, legendary cyberpunk author William Gibson was approached to write a script for Alien 3, and with Sigourney Weaver's return as franchise heroine Ripley very much in doubt, Gibson was charged with continuing the series in her absence.

His Alien 3 begins with Ripley entering a coma after her cryotube is damaged, shifting the focus to Hicks (Michael Biehn) and Bishop (Lance Henriksen), while Newt (Carrie Henn) is safely shipped back to Earth to live with her grandparents.

The action-packed script sees Hicks leading a desperate battle to fend off a Xenomorph infestation on the space station Anchorpoint, concluding with a sequel-bait ending where humanity bands together to locate and destroy the Xeno homeworld.

Despite the script being well-received by fans, the film's producers found it dull. In a small act of solace, however, the script was adapted into an Audible audiobook released just last month, and it's pretty damn great.

What We Got

Alien 3 went through several more drafts before finally settling on a script primarily assembled by franchise producers David Giler and Walter Hill.

The film's production was an infamous mess, as Fox wrestled with first-time filmmaker David Fincher over various aspects of the shoot. And when the film finally hit cinemas, fans were naturally outraged that it opened with the deaths of both Newt and Hicks.

Though Weaver did ultimately return for the threequel, killing her off in the finale opened up a gigantic can of worms once the producers realised the franchise desperately needed the character.

This of course resulted in Ripley's fan fic-esque revival-by-cloning in the fourth film, Alien Resurrection.