8 Early Drafts That Almost Ruined Iconic Movie Endings

One of the most famous science-fiction films of all time almost went an entirely different way with its franchise, potentially hindering film after film that was spawned in the wake of Ridley Scott's seminal work. Scott is known to make some questionable choices - none the least regarding the Alien franchise - so the idea of a radical alternate ending that never came to fruition isn't a far-fetched one. We're just glad he reeled it in.

Sigourney Weaver's iconic Warrant Officer (more exciting than it sounds, I guess) is part of the Nostromo crew, who comprise of a group of travellers returning to Earth after a mission. Intercepting an unknown call, they find an abandoned spacecraft - or at least, what they assume to be abandoned, because of course it's not. An Alien boards and the rest is history.

The Ending

Ripley is the only survivor of the Nostromo crew, alongside cat Jones. She enters an escape pod, though the Alien has hidden aboard and becomes active upon take off. Ripley manages to blast it out of the airlock into space, and enters hypersleep in preparation of the long journey home.

The Original

Scott originally wanted Ripley to be killed by the Xenomorph as well, leaving no survivors from the ship and effectively writing the most celebrated final girl out of existence. But, get this, not only did he want Ripley to die, he wanted the alien to fully rip her head off, then take on her voice and leave one last log in the ship's system before fading the screen to black.

Obviously, the studio refused, and have since cashed in in a big way thanks to that decision. Without it, we would never have Aliens - which more than makes up for having to suffer through Alien 3and the subsequent sequels. The forces of good and evil must always remain in balance.