We’re almost certainly not getting a follow-up to this fall’s The Predator, the second underperforming attempt to reboot the franchise about the dreadlocked bounty hunter that didn’t pair them up with the Xenomorphs from Alien. But that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate about what could have been. One thing that nearly happened: The latest film in the series almost had an ending with a cameo from Ellen Ripley. Or at least her suit.
Special effects artist Yuri Everson dropped this tidbit on Instagram, featuring an image of the dead-then-cloned Alien hero’s space clothes. There’s no Sigourney Weaver in sight; her head is obscured by a conveniently large (and vaguely facehugger-shaped) breather mask, and we only know it’s her by the nametag. (She was played by stuntperson Breanna Watkins.)
https://www.instagram.com/p/Br8g_c3lF8g/?utm_source=ig_embed
So what’s Ripley doing in a Predator film? Of course, the Xenomorph and company have lived in the same world as the Predator since 2004’s Alien vs. Predator. But so far each one’s characters have been kept in their respective franchise.
According to Everson, this image was part of one of three different endings they shot, each involving a “Predator Killer.” The one with Ripley, of course, wasn’t used, but it would have suggested that Ripley not added killing Predators to her résumé, but that she was also a time traveler; The Predator takes place in modern times, while Ripley wasn’t even born until 2092.
Presumably that would have been explained, perhaps laboriously, in the sequels, which would have had to slip time travel into the conjoined Alien-Predator-verse as well. But given the skimpy box office of not only The Predator but also last year’s Alien: Covenant, that mantle will likely have to be taken up by the dozens of fan fic authors who enjoyed The Predator and Alien: Covenant.
(Via The A.V. Club)
