Aliens introduced the beloved characters of Hicks and Newt, and while they both survived the film, Alien 3 unceremoniously killed them off. Whereas Ridley Scott's original Alien was basically a haunted house movie in space, James Cameron's sequel Aliens became a blend of action, sci-fi, and horror. After decades spent in stasis, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is recruited for another fight with the Xenomorphs, this time with a badass group of space marines by her side.
By the end of Aliens, only four characters remain alive, Ripley, the android Bishop (although he's badly damaged), a little girl named Newt (Carrie Henn) that Ripley has sort of adopted as a surrogate daughter, and Corporal Dwayne Hicks (Michael Biehn), the only space marine to survive. The unlikely quartet enters hypersleep for a return trip to Earth, but needless to say, things don't go according to plan. The Sulaco ship becomes damaged, and a computer-controleld escape pod containing Ripley and company ends up crash landing on a prison planet called Fiorina 161 at the beginning of Alien 3.
Ripley is awakened by the prison colony's doctor, but is crushed by the news that she was the only survivor of the crash. Hicks and Newt both died, Bishop was basically destroyed, and as she later finds out, Ripley had been impregnated by a rogue facehugger inside her cryotube. Hicks and Newt's sudden and offscreen demise didn't just shock Ripley, it also made Aliens fans extremely angry. Here's why they didn't make it.
Why Alien 3 Killed Off Hicks & Newt
The feature directorial debut of David Fincher, Alien 3's production was infamously troubled, with Fox executives clashing with Fincher at every turn. A third Alien movie was in development long before Alien 3's 1992 release though, and initial story ideas actually saw Hicks promoted to protagonist. Sigourney Weaver was reportedly okay with taking a smaller role, as she wasn't pleased by scenes she considered crucial to Ripley's character arc being cut from Aliens' theatrical edit. A later script written by William Gibson also saw Hicks become the lead, with Ripley put into a coma, and Weyland-Yutani building an alien army.
It wasn't until a script draft written by Vincent Ward that the idea of killing off Hicks and Newt was first introduced, although they were originally killed by Xenomorphs aboard the Sulaco. Ward later revealed that killing Newt was one of his first priorities, as the character had annoyed him. He also wanted Ripley to be suffering from intense loss and on a quest for redemption, which he felt necessitated getting her Aliens comrades out of the way. It seems Ward wasn't the only writer who disliked Newt, as the majority of unmade Alien 3 scripts find a way to either kill her or otherwise remove her from the plot.
Ward was one of the last writers to take a stab at writing an Alien 3 draft, and the final film, which was actually still being rewritten during production, incorporated elements from many of the different passes made at the story. Sadly for fans, Ward's idea of killing Newt and Hicks stuck around to the end. James Cameron has made his displeasure with their deaths quite clear over the years, and Michael Biehn wasn't exactly happen about it either. Carrie Henn was a bit ambivalent, as she decided not to pursue acting as a career. For his part, Biehn said he would've been okay with Hicks dying in Alien 3, he would've just preferred the character be given something of more substance to do before that happened.