The Predator: Ranking All Of The Alternate Endings
5. The Ripley Ending
As recently revealed by shop supervisor Yuri Everson, the crew of The Predator actually shot several variations of the pod ending, each one featuring different things inside of it.
The biggest reveal of Everson's posts (and the one that's managed to grab the most headlines) is that the pod was, at one point, branded with a Weyland Corp. logo and was going to open to reveal an in-hibernation crew member with a breathing apparatus on their face and a name-tag reading "Ripley". For the uninitiated, Ellen Ripley is the name of Sigourney Weaver's recurring protagonist in the Alien franchise, films that are all set a couple hundred of years after The Predator's modern-day setting.
Thus, having Ripley show up would have meant either that there had been some time-travel shenanigans going on or that this was just a long-distant ancestor of the Ripley fans know and love.
While the prospect of Ripley showing up as Earth's only salvation from the Yautja is certainly intriguing, it's also a bit of a limp note, considering that Weaver has proclaimed her loathing of the AVP crossovers time and time again and has made it abundantly clear she has no desire in participating in anything of that nature. So even if they had gone with this, there was never any chance of the real Ripley actually showing up in a Predator sequel.