Paul Reiser talks about the death scene cut from ALIENS

Paolo Reiser he returned to the Alien franchise with a new comic book series he wrote with his son Leon. The comic is titled Aliens: what if…? and will tell a story that follows Weyland-Yutani Corporation Jr. executive Carter Burke if he survived the film’s horrific events that took place on LV-426.

It was previously explained: “The saga will further explore the nature of the man who betrayed Ripley and how far he is willing to go to get his hands on the deadliest species in the galaxy…”

While I always thought Burke was dead, some fans believe he may have survived claiming that the Xenomorphs and their queen take prisoners, so they can produce more Xenomorphs. Many humans were taken and ended up prisoners in the planet’s nuclear reactor. Some say Burke would probably be caught rather than killed. This was actually true!

It turns out James Cameron filmed a scene showing what happened to Burke, but ended up cutting it. The scene took place in the climax of Aliens when Ripley infiltrates the Xenomorph nest to rescue Newt. In the cut scene, she finds Burke cocooned in the Hive, moments away from a Xenomorph bursting out of his chest. At this point, Ripley gives Burke the means to kill himself and continue his mission. Reiser spoke about the scene, saying:

“We don’t shoot a scene knowing it’s going to get cut, so he’s ‘dead.’ But then when Cameron didn’t include the scene, I thought, well, maybe I’m not dead. And because the thing about that world is that Xenomorphs don’t let you they kill, they just cocoon themselves so they can replicate inside you – which, by the way, this way, you’ll probably die, but that’s not the goal So Ripley was chasing Newt to go and. ..she’s still alive. They don’t kill you, they just cocoon you. So if the baby could be alive, it’s very plausible that Burke could be alive.”

Sure, but in the end it doesn’t really matter because the structure exploded and he absolutely wouldn’t have survived! Reiser went on to say:

“This whole universe hypothesis is really quite plausible. It’s not that far away. Well, it could have, and the timing works. They understood the times. In the film it takes 17 minutes from here to there [the reactor to the drop ship Ripley escapes on]. And that would have been enough time.”

The five-issue comic series was also developed by Adam F. Goldberg (The Goldbergs), Brian Volk-Weiss (The toys that created us) AND Hans Rodionoff (Damage control). Guiu Vilanova will provide illustrations for the comic series (Cosmic Ghost Rider, Eternals).

The comic’s description reads: “For years, fans of James Cameron’s legendary Aliens have wondered whether Carter Burke, a company man more loathsome than Xeno themselves, had actually survived the traumatic events that occurred on the terraforming colony of Hadley’s Hope. Thirty-five years later, Burke is living a cursed existence on an isolated asteroid. With his once promising career in the toilet, Burke’s only remaining purpose in his life is to care for his daughter, Brie. He hates him, probably because he’s a horrible person. And when will he find out what he’s doing now? It won’t be a friendly reunion. Has Burke learned his lesson or is he about to have all of his companions killed again?

Reiser said in a statement: “For years, people have asked me about Burke, what it was like to play a ‘bad guy,’ to which my response was always ‘You say ‘bad,’ I say ‘misunderstood.'” Now the world will find out!”