Unused ‘Alien 3’ Script From Writer William Gibson Is Now An Audiobook Featuring Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen

For many film fans, the “Alien” franchise pretty much only includes Ridley Scott’s 1979 original film and James Cameron’s sequel, “Aliens.” From there, sequels, prequels, and spin-offs were made, which were, for the most part, subpar. And really, the downhill decline of the “Alien” franchise began after Cameron’s sequel, when Fox just couldn’t figure out what to do with “Alien 3.”

But now, thanks to the 40th anniversary of the original “Alien,” fans of the franchise that are willing to explore the fringes, such as the post-Cameron sequels, are in for a treat, as an unused “Alien 3” script from legendary sci-fi writer William Gibson is being brought to life as a new audiobook, titled “Alien III.”

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For those that don’t know, after Cameron’s 1986 sequel, Fox struggled to get a third “Alien” film off the ground. A variety of writers and directors came and went, with a script seemingly getting rewritten constantly. One of those writers is Gibson, who was asked in 1987 to write his version of the third film. Unfortunately, there was a writer’s strike on the horizon, so the author was only given roughly 3 months to finish his script. The results were not well-received by the studio.

After the writer’s strike, Gibson was asked to revise his script, but decided against it, claiming scheduling issues. Years went by, scripts were rewritten, and in 1992, David Fincher’s “Alien 3” was released to fairly terrible reviews. This led to a cult following for Gibson’s unused script, which now brings us to the audiobook version of the script.

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The voice cast for the script read/audiobook includes “Aliens” stars Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen, as well as the vocal talents of Tom Alexander, Barbara Barnes, Lorelei King, Laurel Lefkow, and Keith Wickham.

For those wanting to check it out, you can buy William Gibson’s “Alien III” now on Audible.