The Alien franchise has been an important piece of both horror and science fiction since its release in the ‘70s, but it turns out that the ‘90s sequel, Alien: Resurrection, had a number of different endings under consideration.
Alien: Resurrection made a big splash upon its release since it not only brings Sigourney Weaver back to the franchise, but it brings the Ellen Ripley character back to life via some highly morbid cloning procedures. The events that follow are a flawed, yet compelling story that looks at the evolution of both humanity and the Xenomorph and its major climax at the end revolves around the synthesis of the two, the disturbing Newborn.
Joss Whedon, Alien: Resurrection’s screenwriter, hasn’t hidden his disdain for Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s finished film in regards to how it doesn’t properly understand his script’s tone and makes major many changes for budgetary reasons. As a result of these concessions, Whedon went through many different endings for Alien: Resurrection, one of which was brought to life after the fact, and the rest remain designated to the script stage. The only thing that Whedon was adamant about in his finale was that the fight brings both Ripley 8 and the Newborn back to a futuristic Earth, yet it’s sadly the one thing that doesn’t happen in the film’s theatrical ending, which reserves the final battle for aboard the Betty spacecraft.
Alien: Resurrection's Alternate Ending In Paris
This is the only one of Whedon’s alternate endings that gets brought to life in any capacity and even then it’s only in a compromised sense. The anniversary Special Edition release of Alien: Resurrection allowed Jeunet to bring in a video effects team to complete some of the elements of the movie that couldn’t be finished in time or for budgetary purposes. One of the ways in which he spruces up the film is by offering an alternate ending where Ripley 8 and Call do make it back to Earth. Ripley 8 and Call reflect on the future and whether they fit in, only for the camera to pan up and reveal the Eiffel Tower and that the wasteland that they’ve been sitting in is post-apocalyptic Paris. Jeunet had at least storyboarded this ending during production, but this alternate make mostly uses old footage and just inserts the Paris junkyard around Ripley 8 and Call and features more effects shots.
Whedon’s scripted ending didn’t just conclude in Paris, but it featured a massive fight against a giant Newborn within Paris’ junkyard. The Newborn kills Destephano and bites Call, with her metallic blood leaving a major impact on the Newborn. As Ripley fights off the Newborn, Call and Johner are able to operate a magnetic crane and grab ahold of the Newborn because of the amount of Call's metallic blood that it's consumed. They toss the Newborn into a trash compactor and, when it still survives, Ripley spears it through the head, finally killing it. The survivors contemplate their future, like what is shown in the Special Edition's alternate ending.
Alien: Resurrection's Alternate Ending In A Snowy Forest
Before Whedon had pivoted to his Paris junkyard plan, his first draft had Ripley 8 and company finding their way back on Earth to fight the fully-grown Newborn (complete with tentacles), but this time in a snowy forest. Before Ripley 8 and her crew are knocked out of the Betty into the forest, they try to use their ship’s thrusters to injure the creature, but only find minimal success. Ripley tries to reduce casualties by keeping the Newborn away from populated areas and attacks it with a grenade launcher. The Newborn starts to overwhelm Ripley, but Call comes to the rescue in a Harvester (a reaper-like piece of farm equipment introduced in another deleted scene). Ripley 8 and Call force the Newborn into the Harvester's harsh blades, and it's ripped apart. Acidic alien blood triumphantly rains down on everyone. This conclusion also ends with Ripley 8, Call, Vriess, Johner, and Christie wondering about the future and what’s next for them all, but there’s the greatest sense of optimism in this ending.
Alien: Resurrection's Alternate Ending In A Maternity Ward
Another one of Whedon’s scripted alterations had the final showdown on Earth taking place within a maternity ward in a hospital. Not as many details are included about this direction, but it’s likely that it would have ended in the same way as the rest of Whedon’s Earth-set conclusions. Since these alternate endings indicate versions of the Earth that are both in ruin and still functioning, it’s unclear if the maternity ward would have been abandoned or not. Either way, the cramped quarters could have made for an entertaining finish. A fully-grown Newborn would have been defeated in the end and the survivors could contemplate what’s next. Curiously, the Alien Vs. Predator films eventually used a maternity ward as a location.
Alien: Resurrection's Alternate Ending At A Desert
The last of Whedon’s pivots before he was reduced to setting the film’s finale aboard the Betty was to take the final fight against the Newborn to a desolate desert on Earth. Much like the maternity ward angle, details are minimal on this one, but it was Whedon’s least favorite of the Earth-based locations. He argued that a desert can easily masquerade as an alien home-world, and it didn’t capitalize on the ruin of the planet that he was hoping to illustrate. Whedon was so interested in showing a future version of Earth because it’s never been done before in the Alien films. Alien: Resurrection would ultimately not go there and the series was rebooted in various ways, but all of Whedon's endings implied a future for the series that’s set on Earth. That is implied in the theatrical cut, but these alternate endings show just how damaged the world has become and toy with the dangers of the Newborn being acquired and studied by the Earth’s government.