From Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley to Bill Paxton as Private Hudson, a ton of characters in the Alien franchise have become icons of the silver screen due to perfectly cast actors imbuing real humanity into the victims of bloodthirsty xenomorphs. However, these actors were rarely the first choices for the roles.
In fact, the roles in the original Alien script were written as gender-neutral, so it was up to the casting team to choose which gender each member of the ensemble would be. Some really well-known performers have been up for roles in the Alien franchise over the years.
Meryl Streep As Ripley
Ridley Scott’s original choice for the role of Ellen Ripley was Meryl Streep, who was hitting her stride as one of the world’s greatest actors at the time. However, since Streep’s boyfriend, actor John Cazale, had just passed away at the time, Scott didn’t think it would be appropriate to offer her the part.
So, the role ended up going to Sigourney Weaver and she knocked it out of the park, breaking all kinds of new ground for female action heroes.
Harrison Ford As Dallas
Two years after he played the captain of one iconic spaceship (the Millennium Falcon) in Star Wars, Harrison Ford could’ve played the captain of another iconic ship (the Nostromo) in Alien.
The role of Dallas was offered to Ford when he was presumably being flooded with offers in the wake of the overnight sensation of George Lucas’ space opera, but he turned it down.
James Remar As Hicks
James Remar was initially cast in the role of Dwayne Hicks in Aliens, thanks to a recommendation from his friend Walter Hill, who was credited as a story co-writer on James Cameron’s sequel. However, Remar left the production shortly after filming began.
At the time, it was reported that Remar either had a family emergency or creative differences with Cameron. The actor later confessed that he was fired due to a drug-related arrest. The fiasco impacted his friendship with Hill for years.
Richard E. Grant As Clemens
In David Fincher’s doomed directorial debut Alien 3, Charles Dance plays the role of Jonathan Clemens, an ex-inmate on the prison planet who now works as its doctor. This role was originally written for Richard E. Grant.
According to the book Withnail & I: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Too Drunk to Ask, Fincher had hoped to reunite Grant with his Withnail & I co-stars Ralph Brown and Paul McGann, but he turned down the role.
William H. Macy As Dr. Gediman
William H. Macy detailed his disastrous audition for the role of Dr. Gediman in Alien: Resurrection in an interview with Conan O’Brien. He went in to read for the part with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
However, in the middle of the scene, he felt that what he was reading was so ridiculous that he just told the casting people, “You know what, guys, this is never going to happen,” stood up, and walked out of the room.
Chow Yun-Fat As Christie
Joss Whedon wrote the role of Christie in Alien: Resurrection with Hong Kong action movie legend Chow Yun-fat in mind. The producers even supported this decision and reached out to Chow’s representation and offered him the part.
However, Chow’s manager and regular producer Terence Chang turned down the role on the actor’s behalf and the role ended up going to Gary Dourdan instead.
Bill Murray As Dr. Wren
The role of Dr. Wren in Alien: Resurrection was written for Bill Murray, in the hopes of reuniting Murray with his Ghostbusters co-star Sigourney Weaver, but the role was eventually played by J.E. Freeman.
Similarly, Call was written with Angelina Jolie in mind, but she turned down the part. Call was instead played by Winona Ryder, who starred alongside Jolie in Girl, Interrupted two years later.
Natalie Portman As Elizabeth Shaw
Before Noomi Rapace was cast to play the lead role of Elizabeth Shaw in the Alien prequel Prometheus, the producers considered Gemma Arterton, Abbie Cornish, Anne Hathaway, Cary Mulligan, and Natalie Portman for the part.
Portman didn’t clinch the part of Shaw, but she did appear in a sci-fi horror movie with a similar tone to the Alien franchise when she played the lead role in Alex Garland’s Annihilation.
Michelle Yeoh As Meredith Vickers
Ahead of her career-revitalizing string of action movies like Mad Max: Fury Road and Atomic Blonde, Charlize Theron played the supporting role of Meredith Vickers in Prometheus.
Before Theron was cast, the producers considered a few different actors for the role, including Michelle Yeoh, who became an international icon after starring in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Angelina Jolie, who has apparently always been on the Alien producers’ radar.
Max Von Sydow As Peter Weyland
The original plan with the role of Peter Weyland in Prometheus was to cast a young actor to play Weyland as a young man and an old actor to play Weyland as an old man. Max von Sydow was Ridley Scott’s top choice for the older Weyland, while Rutger Hauer was also considered.
However, when Guy Pearce was cast as the younger Weyland, it was apparent that he could play the role at both a young and old age.