Throughout all the films in the Alien franchise, Ridley Scott’s creation has presented a lot to think about as well as generated a lot of plot holes, but fortunately, there are fan theories out there that make a lot of sense. Beginning with his sci-fi masterpiece Alien in 1979 he introduced the world to the terrifying Xenomorph, and in the most recent prequel Alien: Covenant in 2017, he dissected its fascinating origins. The films in between expanded on the lore of his gritty world-building, presenting questions about humankind’s role in a merciless universe, where biologically lethal organisms could easily eradicate it.
Alien fan theories have done everything from breaking down the genetic makeup of the Xenomorph to questioning whether the Alien cinematic universe is connected to any others, including those from other Ridley Scott movies. They’ve approached some of the issues in Scott’s storylines analytically out of curiosity and necessity, as Scott works with the House of Mouse to see if Disney can fix the Alien franchise. Alien theories have kept the fandom strong enough to ensure the franchise goes into its fifth decade not with a whimper, but with a scream.
10 David Didn’t Make The Xenomorphs (And Neither Did The Engineers)
The plots of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant suggest that David created the Xenomorph species based on the cargo that the Engineers were carrying. But there’s enough evidence to suggest that the Engineers discovered the Xenomorphs as they explored space and, fascinated by their adaptive physiology, decided to experiment on them until they could create the perfect organism. This is not only why the Engineers would hold swathes of eggs in the cargo holds of their enormous ships (like the one seen on LV-426), but also why the mural in the Engineers’ temple featured a Xenomorph.
9 David Created A Copy Of A Xenomorph That Already Existed
Making David responsible for creating the Xenomorph gives the entire Alien franchise a somewhat human-centric feel, but it’s possible that he created a copy of the Xenomorph from a life form that already existed. He could have synthesized the Accelerant from the substance (Plagiarus praepotens), inserted by Facehuggers, making a powerful mutagen already pre-coded to become a Xenomorph embryo. Though it could be filtered through different things, when David experimented on Planet-4 using the surrounding fauna, he was able to create his Protomorphs, as the Xenomorph coding attempted to restructure itself.
8 The Company Discovered LV-426 From A Probe And Wanted First Dibs
The Alien prequels imply that David sent a message to The Company alerting it to the presence of Xenomorph-XX121, but it’s also possible that a Weyland-Yutani probe searching deep space for alien life picked up on the signal from the Space Jockey’s derelict, and The Company took action to get first dibs. Ash was on the ship to make sure that Special Order 937 was successfully fulfilled because the human crew wouldn’t obey official protocols if they knew their lives were in danger.
7 The Xenomorphs Look Different In Every Film Because They Adapt To Their Environment
Xenomorphs have changed their form quite a bit over the films, and one Alien theory indicates that there are no true or correct Xenomorph species. In fact, they are constantly adapting to whatever environment they find themselves in so they can overwhelm the local ecosystem and create a stable lifecycle. One lifecycle would create warriors and queens with notable ridges and a more skeletal shape, while other variants would form where food wasn’t so plentiful and therefore couldn’t sustain the same hive scale.
6 Avatar And Aliens Exist In The Same Universe
After the release of James Cameron’s Avatar, fans started spotting similarities to his other film featuring space marines, Aliens. As it turns out, there are a few more similarities between the two movies; they’re set 25 years apart, in 2154 and 2179 respectively, have dropships, cryosleep chambers, and Aliens’ iconic power loaders. Pandora also orbits Alpha Centauri A, mentioned in the technical manual for Aliens as home to the 2nd and 3rd Colonial Marine Brigades of Aurore 510.
5 The Company Used Lt. Gorman’s Inexperience To Its Advantage
Lt. Gorman being put in charge of a platoon of space marines in Aliens doesn’t make a lot of sense at first, but his inexperience is actually perfect for The Company. Not only does his inexperience make him incredibly dispensable, but he’ll also not question orders directly from Weyland-Yutani about keeping Xenomorph samples. A more experienced officer would have found out everything about the drop point, from hazards (both biological and mechanical) to entry and exit points, and at the first sign of a colonist with their chest burst open, had everyone fall back to the rendezvous point and nuked the site from orbit.
4 The Company Never Got In Trouble After Aliens Because It Blamed Burke
Given the catastrophe involving the Nostromo in Alien, it would seem like public opinion wouldn’t support Weyland-Yutani placing a colony on LV-426. And then after the massive fallout from Hadley’s Hope and the dozens of dead space marines and colonists, The Company would be in even more serious trouble for knowingly placing them in danger, but if it put the onus on one fall guy like Burke, it could vindicate itself. As an abstract entity, Weyland-Yutani could exculpate itself time and again provided it had individuals to pin its insidious behavior on.
3 Ripley Saved Jones The Cat Because Of Her Daughter
Even before Ripley encountered Newt, a little girl who reminded her of her own daughter, her savior complex was already established in Alien when she made sure Jones the cat was aboard the Nostromo’s escape pod. Ripley had left her daughter behind to accept the Nostromo mission, an assignment that would take her away for years, and felt compelled to save helpless things to make her feel better about her choice. New and Hicks in Aliens, the inmates in Alien 3, and even the space pirates in Alien: Resurrection all stemmed from her inability to abandon anyone the way she felt she’d abandoned her daughter.
2 Blade Runner Is Connected To The Alien Universe
Not only are Blade Runner and Alien directed by Ridley Scott, but they share a connection to each other through small details in their respective storylines. Both films use the phrase “off world” to denote colonies on different planets from Earth, both films feature prominent android characters (or Replicants), and both have a lived-in, gritty aesthetic that sets them apart from other sci-fi IPS. The most convincing components of this theory involve Roy Batty’s speech about seeing things humans wouldn’t believe in outer space (possibly Xenomorphs), and the fact that Dallas’ bio reveals he worked for Tyrell Corp in the past.
1 Eggmorphing Aliens Will Eventually Create A Queen
While it’s part of the creepy Xenormoph life cycle Ridley Scott cut by deleting a death scene featuring Dallas and Brett from Alien, the concept of “eggmorphing” is an intriguing one, presenting the possibility of a single Xenomorph starting a hive in the absence of a queen. While the addition of the queen in Aliens made the concept mute, the theory stands that there could be a way for a Xenomorph to find a method of procreation without a queen by turning victims into eggs themselves from which to spawn a queen facehugger. This facehugger would impregnate a new victim with a queen who could start a hive by laying eggs.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
