Remembering the iconic women of the Alien franchise

The many women along the gory way

There’s the quick shooter, Jenette Vasquez who stood by her rightful skepticism when she questioned Ripley about the happenings on Nostromo. After all, Ripley’s claims of 8-foot-tall insect-like creatures that burst out of peoples’ chests is more than just a little bit unbelievable. Though Vasquez didn’t survive LV-426, she did rack up a mighty Xeno kill count. With her last breath, she took out a lot of them with her final weapon: a grenade.

Of course, we can’t forget Newt, who was the only Archeron survivor. As kids, we could barely survive an afternoon of boredom, but Newt survived a fallen settlement infested with Xenos and a Xeno Queen. We know how Newt’s journey ultimately ended, but she still managed to survive on her own for years in an alien wasteland.

Although our list primarily focuses on human women and women in the official Alien canon, we can’t leave off Annalee Call or Lex Woods. In a heavily implied dystopia, the Weyland-created synthetic humans are often as corrupt as the company that manufactured them. Unlike the D-8 and Bishop models (well, most Bishop models), Annalee became a mercenary and engineer. As an outdated Auton (according to Weyland), her rebellion against being decommissioned was a noteworthy arc in itself. However, her biggest stride was when she endured an immeasurable amount of pain to helped Ripley and the remaining crew of mercenaries. Not all synthetic create a killer species or aid Weyland Corp., and Annalee definitely squandered that perception.

Ridley Scott might argue that Alien vs. Predator films and any Predator-focused production aren’t in canon with Alien. However, Xenos and Yautja have a history with crossing over into each other’s media. Even a few Xeno skulls have appeared in unrelated Predator films and comics. For Lex Woods, she became an honored Yautja warrior. The brief induction ceremony was very much earned. After all, Lex earned the trust of a Yautja warrior nominee, saved the planet, and sent a massive Xenomorph Queen tumbling down an icy cliff.

Overall, Lex parallels a lot of Machiko Noguchi’s characterization. Both killed Xenomorph Queens, and both are blooded Yautja despite being humans. Along with Lex’s lengthy list of accolades, saving the world and becoming a Yautja are beyond resume-worthy.

Like any science fiction film or horror-adjacent film, there’s always one last main protagonist standing. For the Alien franchise, that protagonist is typically a woman or two, along with the men they’ve saved along the way. In productions where men are used as hosts to breed a loyal legion for a Xenomorph Queen, that’s always a powerful tone for any film ending.

There’s always something satisfying about side characters, who are predominantly men in a mostly male-dominated genre, giving birth to parasitic female aliens. The future of Alien franchise might be ambiguous, but we hope to see more empowering women characters future Xenomorph media.

After all, powerful women don’t just deserve the Earth. They deserve the vast depths of space, too.