Set Photos Reveal Alternate ‘The Predator’ Ending Featuring ‘Alien’s’ Ripley

One of the biggest disappointments in 2018 (for this writer, at least) is “The Predator.” As an avid fan of all things ‘80s action, I had high hopes that Shane Black (aka Mr. ‘80s Action) would be able to breathe life in a franchise that arguably has never reached the heights that the first film promised. Ultimately, while it did contain some fun moments, “The Predator” was far from the franchise’s saving grace that I hoped for. However, in a new Instagram post, a member of the crew on “The Predator” reveals that the ending of the film could have perhaps excited me more and paved the way for another epic crossover.

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Artist Yuri Everson posted an interesting couple of photos on Instagram recently that revealed that multiple endings were shot for “The Predator,” which was highly publicized. However, what we didn’t know at the time was that Shane Black and Co. shot an ending featuring a nod to the ‘Alien’ franchise and its most famous character, Ripley.

Everson posted pictures of a body in a stasis chamber, wearing a mask. The body clearly has the name “Ripley” written on the costume, but her face is obscured by the breather mask. The artist says that the ending was one of multiple “Predator Killer” endings that were shot, ostensibly including the ending that features the Predator/Iron Man suit that a human can use to kill the alien hunters.

He explained:

“We shot 3 different endings for #thepredator, all variations of a ‘Predator Killer’. This unused ending was Predator Killer Ripley wearing the breather mask we created for the film. You can see her name tag there on her costume. Breanna Watkins played Ripley under the mask instead of Sigourney Weaver. The moving ‘fingers’ and ‘tail’ were deemed too facehugger-like on the day and were cut and removed by someone…”

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As mentioned, I’m a big fan of the whole “Predator” franchise, but I’m definitely an even bigger fan of the ‘Alien’ franchise (as the Xenomorph tattoo on my arm would suggest). Yes, the two franchises have crossed over before, but those films are pretty terrible and I pretend that they don’t exist. I would love to see what Fox (now Disney, I suppose) can cook up in the future with these two sci-fi/horror film franchises.

Sadly, it would appear with the failure of “The Predator” and Ridley Scott’s insistence that ‘Alien’ should continue down its “Prometheus” path, this is likely never going to happen. But a boy can dream!