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Novel Adaptation of William Gibson’s Alien 3 On The Way!

Just when you thought everyone was done having fun with William Gibson’s scripts for Alien 3! A listing for Titan’s new novel has just gone up on Amazon, revealing that Pat Cadigan, “the Hugo Award-Winning “Queen of Cyberpunk,” is taking on the task of bringing Gibson’s first draft of Alien 3 to prose form with Alien 3: The Lost Screenplay!

William Gibson’s never-before-adapted screenplay for the direct sequel to Aliens, revealing the fates of Ripley, Newt, the synthetic Bishop, and Corporal Hicks. When the Colonial Marines vessel Sulaco docks with space station and military installation Anchorpoint, a new form of Xenomorph appears. Written by Hugo Award-winning novelist and “Queen of Cyberpunk” Pat Cadigan, based on Gibson’s never-produced first draft. 

The Sulaco—on its return journey from LV-426—enters a sector controlled by the “Union of Progressive Peoples,” a nation-state engaged in an ongoing cold war and arms race. U.P.P. personnel board the Sulaco and find hypersleep tubes with Ripley, Newt, and an injured Hicks. A Facehugger attacks the lead commando, and the others narrowly escape, taking what remains of Bishop with them. 

The Sulaco continues to Anchorpoint, a space station and military installation the size of a small moon, where it falls under control of the military’s Weapons Division. Boarding the Sulaco, a team of Colonial Marines and scientists is assaulted by a pair of Xenomorph drones. In the fight Ripley’s cryotube is badly damaged. It’s taken aboard Anchorpoint, where Ripley is kept comatose. Newt and an injured Corporal Hicks are awakened, and Newt is sent to Gateway Station on the way to Earth. The U.P.P. sends Bishop to Anchorpoint, where Hicks begins to hear rumors of experimentation—the cloning and genetic modification of Xenomorphs. 

The kind of experimentation that could yield a monstrous hybrid, and perhaps even a Queen.

 Novel Adaptation of William Gibson's Alien 3 On The Way!

What’s interesting here is that the blurb specifically calls out Gibson’s first draft. Both Audible and Dark Horse Comic’s adaptations were based on Gibson’s second draft. There were some very notable differences between the two so this may present a very different experience for those already familiar with the previous adaptations.

The adaptation is being written by Pat Cadigan, an award-winning author particularly – and very fittingly – best known for her own work in the cyberpunk genre, a genre that William Gibson is very well known for popularizing. Though not her first foray into licensed fiction (she’s worked on Jason X and Alita: Battle Angel), this will be Pat’s Alien debut!

According to the Amazon listing, Alien 3: The Lost Screenplay will be released on the 31st of August this year. It is also already available for pre-order on Amazon (UK/US) and is now Titan’s third Alien novel of 2021!

Thanks to felix for the heads up! Make sure your browsers are locked into Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest Alien and Predator news! You can also follow us on FacebookTwitter, Instagram and YouTube to get the latest on your social media walls. Be sure to join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums as well!



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Comments: 56
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  1. skhellter
    Yeah sounds like Pat isn't changing much from the script (at least as far as the opening events).

    expecting all the alien related stuff to be high tier fun nonsense
    but hopefully she'll punch up the writing in regards to Hicks and Bishop (and the UPP commando)

    Main problem of those drafts was that there were no really interesting central characters (at least, that's the main complain among people who aren't addicted to cinemasins level pedantry.)

    I get that Gibson wanted to return to the "ensemble cast of working class people dealing with horrible things while being manipulated by a big Company"
    but.. that's not what i want from Alien anymore especially after how Aliens (and the actual Alien3) were so character-focused.
  2. felix
    Synopsis is out.
    https://bnccatalist.ca/ViewTitle.aspx?id=29966759

    William Gibson's never-before-adapted screenplay for the direct sequel to Aliens, revealing the fates of Ripley, Newt, the synthetic Bishop, and Corporal Hicks. When the Colonial Marines vessel Sulaco docks with space station and military installation Anchorpoint, a new form of Xenomorph appears. Written by Hugo Award-winning novelist and "Queen of Cyberpunk" Pat Cadigan, based on Gibson's never-produced first draft.

    The Sulaco—on its return journey from LV-426—enters a sector controlled by the "Union of Progressive Peoples," a nation-state engaged in an ongoing cold war and arms race. U.P.P. personnel board the Sulaco and find hypersleep tubes with Ripley, Newt, and an injured Hicks. A Facehugger attacks the lead commando, and the others narrowly escape, taking what remains of Bishop with them.

    The Sulaco continues to Anchorpoint, a space station and military installation the size of a small moon, where it falls under control of the military's Weapons Division. Boarding the Sulaco, a team of Colonial Marines and scientists is assaulted by a pair of Xenomorph drones. In the fight Ripley's cryotube is badly damaged. It's taken aboard Anchorpoint, where Ripley is kept comatose. Newt and an injured Corporal Hicks are awakened, and Newt is sent to Gateway Station on the way to Earth. The U.P.P. sends Bishop to Anchorpoint, where Hicks begins to hear rumors of experimentation—the cloning and genetic modification of Xenomorphs.

    The kind of experimentation that could yield a monstrous hybrid, and perhaps even a Queen.

  3. FenGiddel
    Quote from: Capt. Dallas at Thedus on Jan 18, 2021, 09:19:54 PM
    Alien3 spin-off scripts are practically their own universe.Vincent Ward's Wooden Planet Alien3,anybody? :)
    Have to agree, there.


    Quote from: Local Trouble on Jan 18, 2021, 08:35:33 PM
    It just goes to show how much demand there is for a storyline that didn't upset people.
    Coming to this blind, I am anxious to see exactly what is the story.


    Quote from: Darwinsgirl on Jan 20, 2021, 02:42:35 AM
    Apologies I totally misinterpreted your post. I just lost a loved one to cancer. Watching them suffer.
    Ah, you're fine. And condolences for your loss, Darwinsgirl.
  4. Darwinsgirl
    Quote from: skhellter on Jan 18, 2021, 09:10:12 PM
    Quote from: FenGiddel on Jan 18, 2021, 07:48:33 PM
    I like how they're publishing these versions of Alien 3, but do these items add to the richness of the universe, or merely the richness of a bank account...?

    the writer has terminal cancer, who cares about "adding to the richness of the universe"

    hope she had a ton of fun with it. now that's wealth.

    If anyone has cancer terminal or not there is no "fun" to it.
  5. Hunter-Killer
    The Alien 3 film starts developing a lot of undesirable aspects of the alien franchise imo. I'm pretty engaged with most other versions of alien 3/an Aliens sequel, I think there's only so many times to exploit an alternate though
  6. skhellter
    Quote from: El Pistolero on Jan 18, 2021, 06:37:41 AM
    Gibson's Alien 3 was interesting, but not good. The characterisation is very poor and the story is meh! For me Alien3 is a very well made final movie. It has lots of Drama, charakter and a depressing situation in a great setting. I hope we will never see a movie where Ripley returns. It is time to go one Fanboys!

    A retcon of the sequel trilogy in Star Wars will never happen. Deal with it shitty SWfandom!

    sequel trilogy retcon probably won't happen but dumber things have happened in hollywood (just look at the Snyder cut). :laugh:

    New Halloween movie even retcons the previous entries outside of the original.
    Same with Dark Fate and the other Terminator films.

    I'm just saying.. if it happens...
    it will only be surprising if you haven't been paying attention to how Hollywood works.
  7. SM
    QuoteIt's fair to say that this is pretty subjective.

    No, objectively Alien 3 has a deeper well of varied drafts.  Early drafts of Alien, Aliens and Alien Resurrection are all very similar to what ended up on screen.

    QuoteThe only one developed does not automatically mean good.

    No one claimed such a thing.

    The filmed version of Alien 3 ending up better than any of the script drafts - makes it just that - better.
  8. El Pistolero
    Gibson's Alien 3 was interesting, but not good. The characterisation is very poor and the story is meh! For me Alien3 is a very well made final movie. It has lots of Drama, charakter and a depressing situation in a great setting. I hope we will never see a movie where Ripley returns. It is time to go one Fanboys!

    A retcon of the sequel trilogy in Star Wars will never happen. Deal with it shitty SWfandom!
  9. Drukathi
    Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 16, 2021, 05:47:41 PM
    Would you say that about The Star Wars too?

    If we are talking about the copyright holders of SW, then I do not know. It looks like after a cold meeting of the nonsense called SeQuEl tRyLogY - someday we'll get a retcon. Not now, but in a few (tens) years. If you mean my opinion, then - yes. Alien 3 is simply an unrivaled level of quality compared to Sequel Trilogy's brown substance.

    Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 16, 2021, 05:47:41 PMfor Alien fans, Alien 3 is the deep well

    It's fair to say that this is pretty subjective.

    Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 16, 2021, 05:47:41 PMnone of the others got to really develop

    The only one developed does not automatically mean good. Just a survivor in a development hell. Like Morse - he is also the sole survivor of the Fury-161. But you can't call him good or even say - oh, at least someone survived and that's good. Because he is just a "survivor", the last one standing.

    Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 16, 2021, 05:47:41 PM
    so they do all have that first draft vibe.

    The only thing that survived is nonsense with the appearance of the egg. I don't even know which is worse - a magic egg out of nowhere or an egg grown in Bishop. How? Why?
  10. YogaJude108
    Isn't this Aliens 2, not 3? Part 3 was the one that took place in that prison with all the Brits. The Alien movie with the Marines was part 2.
  11. Corporal Hicks
    Quote from: Drukathi on Jan 16, 2021, 11:01:35 AM
    It seems that even the copyright holders themselves are using the weak Alien 3 to create numerous stories. Like: "Yes-yes, we know you don't like Alien 3, so here you go - keep another Aliens sequel."

    Would you say that about The Star Wars too? I strongly disagree with this one. It's just a chance to see those other possibilities, and for Alien fans, Alien 3 is the deep well (unless they let someone in to have a look at all those other sequel pitches we don't know about). But as SM says, none of the others got to really develop, so they do all have that first draft vibe. I think it's important to be aware of that.
  12. skhellter
    that doesn't stop people from picking these gibson adaptations as their favorite alien3's because "hix and nut are still alive uwu  :'( "

    Anyway, these are fun alternatives and i kinda feel like this novel might just end up being the best iteration of Gibson's story.
  13. Drukathi
    Quote from: skhellter on Jan 15, 2021, 10:36:53 AM
    seems like the pre-order links went up before the proper schedule.

    Alien3 keeps being even more of a "choose your own adventure" thing..

    Always has been. This is the dividing point of the community. It seems that even the copyright holders themselves are using the weak Alien 3 to create numerous stories. Like: "Yes-yes, we know you don't like Alien 3, so here you go - keep another Aliens sequel."
    Funnily enough, they're all better than Alien 3. I really look forward to this book, especially if it is according to Gibson's first draft.
  14. KiramidHead
    Twohy's was pretty good up until the escape attempt gets foiled. It got progressively random for there.

    I just hope this sells well and they finally put together a sequel to tie up Gibson's cliffhanger ending.
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