‘Aliens’ Director James Cameron calls Alien 3 ‘stupidest’ decision in franchise

James Cameron is not holding back when it comes to his feelings about 1992’s Alien 3.

During his recent appearance on the Just Foolin About with Michael Biehn podcast, the 71-year-old filmmaker – famously wrote and directed Aliens – sharply criticized the third installment in the Alien franchise. Aliens is the sequel to the classic and extremely influential 1979 sci-fi classic film Alien, directed by Ridley Scott.

During the conversation, Cameron and Biehn reflected on Alien 3’s opening scenes, which reveal that key characters from Aliens – Newt, Hicks, and the android Bishop – have been killed off before the story even begins. While Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley wakes up from stasis 57 years as the sole survivor of the events of the first film.

When Biehn, who played Corporal Dwayne Hicks in Aliens, asked Cameron if he had been disappointed by that creative decision, Cameron was blunt.

“I thought that was the stupidest f—— thing,” he said to which Biehn agreed.

James Cameron went on to express, “You build a lot of goodwill around the characters of Hicks and Newt and Bishop, and then the first thing they do in the in the next film is kill them all off, right?”

“Really smart, guys. And replace them with a bunch of f—— convicts that you hate. And want to see die. Really clever,” he sarcastically added.

Alien 3, directed by David Fincher in his feature film debut, starred Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Pete Postlethwaite, Holt McCallany, and others.