That's kind of how Aliens ends, though. I think in Alien 3, you have that tragedy that you're talking about, but it felt abrupt. The movie didn't benefit from it, I do not think.
Personally I never liked the idea of having a central character with a story like Alien. It would have ruined the first film, but the movie keeps you guessing until the end. In Aliens, Ripley is this central character from the start, and it felt a little silly to me, especially towards the end, when she's duking it out with the aliens and winning after everyone else is defeated. That kind of thing would have also been ridiculous in the first film. She does defeat the creature, but not easily and she's scared of it, runs away from it, only confronts it because she has no other choice. She didn't feel like a hero with this agenda against the company. She just felt like someone trying to survive. The moment she decided to spend the rest of her life fighting the creature and the company I kind of lost interest.
Granted, she's going to wind up with a chip on her shoulder and some PTSD. But the story just went in this grand, theatrical direction, with her and the creature "meeting once again" over and over like Dracula and Van Helsing.
The question is, does this continue in Alien 5? Does Ripley try to have a normal life, with her arch-nemesis seemingly defeated? Is she seemingly happy with fellow survivor Hicks and Newt, only to have her happiness dashed by the "goddamn company" and that pesky alien? It's obviously going to return, because the film isn't titled "The Adventures of Ripley." It's called Alien V (tenatively) and Ripley is in the film, and probably Hicks, as well. Not sure about Newt, but it would not be surprising if she were, too. So if all three survivors are in the film, and the alien is, how are the humans getting along together and how does the inevitable return of the alien affect their relationship as a group? Do they stick together, only to be broken apart? Do Newt and Hicks die before the film starts?
Personally I think Ripley was such a huge success as a character because it came off as a surprise. She wasn't this obvious hero from the start. The biggest problem with Alien V is I doubt they'll be willing to take a risk and try something new. Ripley is captain of this ship, the heroine of the series. Hicks and Newt are, too, in their own ways. For better or for worse, they are the central characters of the series, an effect bolstered by Aliens and the direction it took its characters in. I wish that Alien V would deal with them more as ordinary people trying to survive and not these grand heroes in some kind of space opera. A good way to ground them would be to treat them like ordinary people
