Dark Horse is Adapting William Gibson's Unproduced ALIEN 3 Script Into a Comic
Alien 3 could have been so much better than what David Fincher ended up giving us. It wasn't completely his fault, though, because the movie had a terrible script. Had they used the original script written by William Gibson, fans might have a very different outlook on the film.
Gibson was hired by Fox in the late 80s to write the script for the film because they were probably hoping the sci-fi writer would bring his cyberpunk vision to the franchise. Unfortunately, the studio opted not to use his script, which would have given Ripley and the survivors aboard the Sulaco a very different story. In fact, the script they used for the film used nothing from his script.
Well, that script is now being adapted into a comic book series by Dark Horse Comics and it will be created by writer and artist Johnnie Christmas (Angel Catbird, Firebug, Sheltered). The synopsis for Gibson’s Alien 3 reveals that the story will evolve into one of the primary conflicts of the first two films, which is the struggle between personal welfare and corporate interests:
Following the deadly events of Aliens, the Union of Progressive Peoples intercepts the spaceship carrying the hibernating bodies of Ripley, Hicks, Newt, and Bishop. But unbeknownst to them, they have also picked up another deadly passenger whose discovery will unleash a race between two governments to weaponize the xenomorph in this horrifying and poignant Cold War-themed thriller.
Why the studio opted not to tell this story, I have no idea. Bishop is also said to have a pivotal role in the story. In a statement to CBR, Gibson said:
"When your first contracted screenplay (or screenplay of any kind, in my case) isn’t produced, but the film is eventually made with a different screenplay, retaining nothing of yours but a barcode tattoo on the back of a character’s neck, the last thing you ever expect is to see yours beautifully adapted and realized, decades later, in a different medium, by an artist of Johnnie Christmas’ caliber. It’s a wonderful experience, and I have no doubt that Johnnie’s version, which adheres almost entirely to the script, delivers more of my material to the audience than any feature film would have been likely to do.
"As for my screenplay, I’d like to point out that I worked from a treatment provide by the film’s three producers, so it wasn’t my idea, at all, to jettison Ripley. Unhappy with that, as a fan of the previous two films, I went for a multiple helping of Bishop, my second favorite human character in the first film.”
William Gibson’s Alien 3 #1 goes on sale on November 7th and I can't wait to read it! Check out a. preview of the comic below.
