The 10 Best Alien Franchise Characters, Ranked

When you think of an “Alien” movie, you would be forgiven for thinking primarily of…well, you know, of the alien at the center of each story. The people in each film in this long-running franchise may come and go, but we all know who and what the Xenomorph is, and its propensity for killing as many people as possible. But an iconic horror movie bad guy is just one piece of what has made the “Alien” franchise stand the test of time. With the arrival of an all-new entry, the so-called interquel “Alien: Romulus” from genre director Fede Álvarez (“Evil Dead,” “Don’t Breathe”), let us now consider the 10 best characters in the decade-spanning series.

Be warned, though, this article contains spoilers for “Alien: Romulus” after a certain point (we’ll let you know when). Also, you might just be surprised at the top pick. (No, really.)

Danny McBride has had such a delightfully curious career that it both defies description and feels apropo that he’s co-starred in an “Alien” film in between HBO series like “Vice Principals” and “The Righteous Gemstones.” McBride isn’t the only notable cast member in the 2017 film “Alien: Covenant,” which also features Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, and Amy Seimetz (the latter as the wife of McBride’s character Tennessee). It helps matters that –- spoilers? –- Tennessee is just one of two human characters to survive the events of “Covenant” (at least until the final moments), meaning he gets to stick around a bit longer. But because Tennessee feels very much like the result of director Ridley Scott just letting McBride be McBride, his raffish and loquacious pilot is a honestly rare source of fun and a spark of energy in a film that largely relies on Michael Fassbender’s dual role as androids David and Walter One (more on that to come) for liveliness. McBride isn’t playing a truly unique character in Tennessee, who follows in line with the working-class stiffs Parker and Brett from the original “Alien.” Still, that archetype in the franchise is important to keep alive, so it’s a welcome change of pace that in such a dour story, the man who would be Kenny Powers gets to live to the end credits.

We don’t know too much about the people at the top of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, and that’s by design. Before the events of the 2012 film “Prometheus,” there was only so much we could know or even glean about the company. (The human character portrayed by Lance Henriksen in the 1992 film was known as Michael Bishop Weyland in some tie-in materials, but that’s basically it.) In “Prometheus,” we meet the elderly Peter Weyland, played by Guy Pearce in a lot of old-age makeup. Through his appearances, we grasp that the presence of the Xenomorph in earlier films in the series stem from Weyland’s desire to conquer death and to potentially live on forever. Weyland is always a supporting character, making a brief cameo at the outset of “Alien: Covenant” as a younger man when his android David first came online. What makes the character so compelling isn’t just that we can imagine real-life billionaires being this self-involved and attempting to push boundaries for selfish aims. (You can probably think of at least one or two people who fit this description.) It’s that Weyland’s aspirations are as relatable as they are self-involved. The desire to achieve immortality isn’t new, and it’s not one held solely by the super-rich. Moreover, the way that Weyland’s presence looms over the new “Alien” films without being their sole source of conflict adds to the thematic richness of the franchise. All of this fuss emanates from an old man who wants to be young again, and doesn’t care about the far-reaching consequences; it’s as infuriating as it is recognizable.

One of the great joys of the original “Alien” is that it’s a haunted house movie in space with a limited set and an equally limited number of characters, all of whom are just working grunts for a faceless corporation that doesn’t give a damn about them. It may be easy to forget now, but since the Xenomorph or even the face-hugger doesn’t show up for close to half of the film, the tension in the first hour of “Alien” springs from the interpersonal conflict among the seven crew members, including the loquacious and edgy Parker, played by Yaphet Kotto. Parker is the ship’s chief engineer, but he and his less chatty friend Brett understandably care a lot more about how much time the Weyland-Yutani Corporation –- mostly referred to as “the company” –- are making them work and whether or not they’re going to be fairly compensated. One of the subtle strengths of “Alien” is its capitalist critique, as everyone gradually realizes to their dismay that they’re trapped in some form by the company to perform work that doesn’t quite separate them from androids. Kotto’s edgy performance as Parker is a solid embodiment of that critique; he and Brett can’t rail against the company directly, so they take their frustrations out on the rest of the crew. The nature of this film is such that only one human can be the last one standing, so Parker does eventually fall to the Xenomorph, but Kotto’s so good and so much of a live wire as the engineer that his character’s death hits the hardest.

Spoilers for “Alien: Romulus” to follow from this point forward.

It is almost painfully obvious in watching “Alien: Romulus” that director and co-writer Fede Álvarez is a lot more fascinated by non-human characters than the humans attempting to avoid being killed and/or used as cocoon material for the Xenomorph. Though the setup of the story focuses on a handful of desperate young people trying to escape a mining colony that literally never sees the sun, and the trouble they quickly find when locating working cryo-pods for a years-long trip, Alvarez’s heart (ironically) is with Andy, a kindly android played by David Jonsson whose initial directive is to protect our ostensible heroine Rain (Cailee Spaeny). Andy is, as has often been the case in this franchise with its other androids, something of the soul of the film. Though at first, Andy is seen by the humans aside from our lead as an annoyance whose sole purpose is to literally open doors, he quickly becomes a central figure when the humans discover the top half of an android named Rook (portrayed, somewhat, by the revived digital face and voice of the late actor Ian Holm), who tries to manipulate Andy into caring more for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation than for any of the humans. Jonsson does a solid job of essentially playing two characters with the same body: the stuttering “brother” who doesn’t get treated well by most humans but cares deeply for his “sister”, and the straightforward company-man robot who can easily overpower anyone blocking his new prime directive. If that wasn’t enough, Álvarez even gives Andy the most shameless moment of nostalgia — not only saving Rain from a Xenomorph in the climax by using one of the rifles from the events of “Aliens,” but delivering the kiss-off line we all know: “Get away from her, you b***h.” Andy doesn’t deserve that much, but Jonsson does his best in bringing this tortured android to life.

As noted above, “Alien: Romulus” invokes what is arguably the most famous line of dialogue in this entire series. When Ripley forcefully yells “Get away from her, you b***h!” near the end of “Aliens,” it’s the kind of rousing and thrilling moment that filmmakers often hope for but rarely achieve. Obviously, some of what makes that line work so well is Sigourney Weaver’s excellent, Oscar-nominated performance, as well as the visceral nature of the film’s climax. But it’s also rooted in how much the heroine cares for an orphaned colonist nicknamed Newt (Carrie Henn), and thus how much we care about Newt. Adding a child to the mix could have either made “Aliens” an exceedingly gross film (when you see “Romulus,” you will get proof of that grossness), or overly sappy and saccharine. It’s to Henn’s credit as much as director James Cameron or Weaver that Newt never manages to feel overly cutesy or mannered. Yes, there is an undeniable mirror here in how Ripley becomes a surrogate mother to Newt while fending off the alien queen and her vast progeny. It works for our heroine, though, because Newt is instantly likable without being obnoxious. There are so many examples of mainstream blockbusters that are felled by annoying kid actors or performances, but “Aliens” mercifully avoids that pitfall.

Just as it’s an effective source of tension in the first “Alien” that Ash is revealed to be an android pursuing the company’s goals instead of a human, it’s an equally effective twist in “Aliens” that the android Bishop (Lance Henriksen) is more human than some of his counterparts on the Sulaco. We can understand why and how Ripley would be so instantly distrustful of Bishop, who seems friendly enough (and whose android nature is not ever a secret), especially since for her, very little time has passed between the events of the first two films. But as portrayed by Henriksen, Bishop is not just a subversion on Ash, but a surprisingly soulful and gentle part of the crew (and he’s gifted with a knife); he’s more selfless than most of the other members of the Sulaco, and when it briefly looks like he’s been fully destroyed by the alien queen, it’s legitimately disappointing. It’s equally disappointing how quickly “Alien 3” discards characters like Bishop and Newt so that it can focus more squarely on Ripley. No doubt, Ripley is the key human at the center of the series, but one of the many strengths of “Aliens” is how writer/director James Cameron quickly establishes a core subgroup surrounding her. Although Bishop, both as an android and as its human creator, does appear in the third film, the spark of life the character exhibited is long since gone. It’s frustrating but also clarifies exactly how special Bishop is in the second film and how Henriksen so calmly brought him to a robotic form of life.

Hindsight only makes Carter Burke even more oily and slimy than he was when “Aliens” was released in the summer of 1986. At that time, Paul Reiser had appeared in two notable films (the 1982 comedy-drama “Diner” and the 1984 smash hit “Beverly Hills Cop”) in supporting roles, and had made his name as an up-and-coming stand-up comedian. But he was still a few years removed from his 90s-era sitcom hit “Mad About You”, and even a year away from co-starring in “My Two Dads.” So it’s only with the awareness of Reiser’s later work that the character of Burke really stands out. At the start of “Aliens,” this true company man from Weyland-Yutani seems … well, he seems okay. Burke is the first person with whom Ellen Ripley makes contact after 57 years in cryo-sleep, floating through the vestiges of outer space, and although he’s dubious about her story of what happened on the Nostromo, he seems more invested in her well-being as she recuperates. When she learns that LV-426, where the crew of the Nostromo first found the face-hugger, is now home to a terraforming colony, she instantly sounds the alarm and though Burke brings her on a mission to locate the colonists, she soon realizes that Burke is as soulless as they come, choosing to use the colonists and even her and Newt as warm bodies that the aliens can use to continue spawning. The character as written is weaselly enough, but Reiser does a phenomenal job of only barely modulating his performance to shift from seeming like a Nice Guy to being a truly scummy shill.

Whatever else can be said of the two 2010s-era “Alien” films, it’s next to undeniable that Michael Fassbender’s performance is chilling beyond belief. By the time of “Prometheus,” Fassbender had proven his capabilities with compelling if clipped characters in the Steve McQueen film “Shame” as well as Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.” But David is an entirely different beast, an android who is not only taking part in an interplanetary mission to identify what life exists beyond Earth, but who also seems endlessly fascinated by the very concept of humanity itself. At the core of the “Alien” franchise is the idea of science gone wrong, whether in the form of a science officer who would rather marvel at the perfection of the Xenomorph than save humans from destruction or the almost playful experimentation that David exhibits in “Prometheus” when dosing a drink with the familiar black liquid that helps spawn those same Xenomorphs. David isn’t entirely evil in “Prometheus”; he ultimately helps Elizabeth Shaw escape the distant planet where much of the action takes place. When “Alien: Covenant” begins, though, he’s taken his creator Peter Weyland’s notion of discovering how mankind came to be into a warped and disturbed way to use humans to help birth that perfect organism, as it evolves from one form to another before it becomes the Xenomorph. The problem of David is less that the character as written and performed isn’t fascinating; it’s that the humans with whom he toys are vastly less compelling, with the filmmakers seeing them as lacking in life as David himself does.

Your eyes do not deceive you. This really is a list of the best characters in the “Alien” franchise, and Ellen Ripley does not hold the top spot. Mind you, the fierce heroine is so well-acted by the legendary Sigourney Weaver, she is so singular and serves as such a high creative bar to clear that follow-up films like “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant” (along with “Romulus”) are unable to compete with one of the original Strong Female Character types. It’s also worth noting that as depicted in “Alien” itself, Weaver’s lead character doesn’t feel like the lead until everyone else has died. It’s not just that, at the time of production, Weaver was close to an unknown (save for a brief, dialogue-free appearance in “Annie Hall”). It’s that Ripley is closer to a cipher until the excellent 1986 sequel “Aliens,” in which her connection with the young Newt makes for a solid backbone to the character as well as the overall film, ensuring that the lead cares about more than just destroying the Xenomorph. Yet, as iconic as Ripley is, she’s the one character who doesn’t get quite filled in from either a performance or writing standpoint in the original “Alien,” whereas the very nature of this franchise is that you’re lucky if you get that much time to make your mark. As controversial as it may be to place her outside of the top spot, there is one character whose spotlight in their sole appearance steals the show.

Yes, really. The 1979 film “Alien” is one of the greatest films of all time for so many reasons, from the striking production design to the unforgettable Xenomorph (who is less a character than a specter of doom, otherwise it would be the top of this list). However, the script deliberately doesn’t give us a lot of character details, to the degree that none of the humans have an assigned gender in the original draft — allowing any combination of men and women to star in the film. That said, as time goes by (and now that “Alien” has turned 45), and as scary as the Xenomorph itself is, there’s no one quite like the head medical officer Ash, as portrayed chillingly by the aforementioned Holm. Even before we learn that Ash is an android hidden in plain sight who’s been installed on the Nostromo to ensure that the Weyland-Yutani corporation can get its hands on the eponymous alien, he’s an unnerving presence. That sensation is never stronger than in the scene that climaxes with Ash inadvertently revealing its true nature to the surviving members of the ship, as it initially attempts to suffocate Ripley via a rolled-up set of papers placed just so on her mouth. Ash doesn’t last the entirety of “Alien,” but consider his impact. It’s not just that Holm’s work is remarkable in and of itself. It’s not just that Michael Fassbender’s indelible turn as the aforementioned David feels like a direct homage to his understated but standout performance. It’s that 45 years later, we now have a new film that tries to bring Holm back, and it only serves to prove how inimitable his character was.