8 Sequels That Killed Off Heroes In Minutes
2. Alien 3
Oh, the Alien franchise.
After surviving all of the trauma and pain of the events that transpired in James Cameron's Aliens, Ripley, Hicks, Newt, and Bishop all embarked on a journey back home as they drifted off to a peaceful sleep in their cryo-chambers.
The credits roll and all is right with the world, the Xenomorphs all fully exterminated and the series brought to a wholly satisfying conclusion, right?
Not so much.
Opening right where Aliens left off, Alien 3 shows us that a fire was started onboard the ship and a queen facehugger is somehow on-board. The ship ejects an escape pod with our four protagonists and the facehugger, and the next thing we see is Ripley being awoken by a doctor and being told that she is the only survivor.
From a narrative perspective, the film clearly was more interested in exploring a damaged and vulnerable Ripley than it was in furthering the family dynamic of Cameron's work, which makes perfect sense. But killing off fan-favorite characters such as Hicks and Newt without so much as an actual goodbye was a hard pill for many to swallow.