Alien 3 was released on this date in 1992.

We look back at the different versions of the movie we almost saw.

This article originally appeared onDen of Geek UK.

When the credits rolled on 1986sAliens, the inevitable question from many moviegoers was, What happens next?

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A year afterAlienscame out, Cameron was unequivocal about leaving theAlienuniverse behind.

I would never be that cruel…

In fact,AliensandRidley Scotts originalAlienleftAlien 3s producers in a situation akin to performance anxiety.

How do you follow up two classic movies with something equally fresh and successful, from a creative standpoint?

We werent that enthused, Giler said in 2003.

David and I were a bit sick of it, Hilllater added.

For now, here are some of the unusedAlien 3ideas that we currently know about.

Aliens head to Earth

BeforeAlien 3was released, a teaser trailer was put out by Fox.

Exactly what multi-talented means isnt clear (could the giant alien tap-dance?

), but the idea, which sounds more like aGodzilla-like kaiju movie than anAliensequel, was thankfully dropped.

The second film would have seen Ripley revived for another fight with her mortal enemy, the aliens.

TheSulacois subsequently brought back to Anchorpoint, an outpost in an area of space owned by Weyland-Yutani.

Inevitably, their experiments go wrong, and Anchorpoint is quickly overwhelmed by screeching aliens.

There are wheat fields, grain silos, a drive-in movie theater, and even windmills.

It was a real disaster, Sigourney Weaver said of Reds script.

For the first time, we see something approaching the finalAlien 3.

At least in the broad strokes.

Twohys script takes place on a space station orbiting Earth a prison facility called Moloch Island.

This is a great script, but I wont make this film without Sigourney,Roth said.

She is the centrepiece of the series.

Now all the production needed was a director.

Here, perhaps, was the director hed been searching for all along.

There was, however, a problem.

Ward was an independent filmmaker with little interest in directing a Hollywood tentpole.

When he read TwohysAlien 3script, he was even less interested.

Finally, Ward relented.

Ward imagined an orbiting station with an outer layer of wood.

Here, a group of monks lived a simple life away from the evils of technology.

The full-grown alien is regarded as a dragon, or perhaps even the Devil himself.

The world depicted in Wards story is surreal yet fully-formed: we see monks blowing glass.

Theres a huge library.

Concept art had been drawn and sets had even begun to be built.

But at the same time, executives still had misgivings over Wards wooden planet concept.

Why would its builders ship all that timber out into space?

Couldnt it just be a standard prison colony, like the one in Twohys script?

One executive at Fox dismissed the wooden planet as artsy fartsy.

Frustrated, Ward decided to bow out of the production.