‘Alien’ was not originally going to be called ‘Alien’: this was the original title of the movie and the ship Nostromo

An idea is born, evolves, takes shape and takes on a life of its own. When screenwriter Dan O’Bannon began outlining the script for Alien, he looked at several sci-fi and horror productions. “I didn’t steal Alien from anybody. I stole it from everybody,” he went so far as to declare. The truth is that this is how creative ideas tend to work, they always start with tangible elements that inspire and allow for a different approach. And so Ridley Scott’s movie became a classic among classics. The curious thing is that very early on, in the original script, the movie was not titled ‘Alien’.

The names of ‘Alien’ in the original script

In this early draft of the script, the title of the movie chosen by O’Bannon was ‘Star Beast’. The screenwriter was not convinced and began to think of alternatives: he noticed that the word “Alien” was repeated a lot in the script, so he finally chose that title. Its simplicity and double meaning as a noun and adjective motivated him to make the change. What would have happened if the movie had been called Star Beast? Would it have had the same success or would it have gone unnoticed? Who knows? The what ifs are always devilish....

Something similar happened with the name of the ship Nostromo, the ship on which Lieutenant Ripley and the rest of the ill-fated crew were traveling. At first it was called the Snark, but later it became known as the Leviathan. In the end, the filmmakers came up with the perfect name: the U.S.C.S.S. Nostromo.

The ‘Alien’ franchise will soon return with two eagerly awaited productions: on the one hand, director Fede Alvarez is preparing ‘Alien: Romulus’, an independent film set between the first two films, to be released on August 16th. On the other hand, ‘Alien: Earth’ will be released in 2025, a prequel series that takes place years before the adventure of Ripley and company.