What actually happens
Ripley comes back with acid for blood
Two hundred years after Ellen Ripley's death, military scientists on the Auriga clone her using blood saved from Fiorina 161. The Xenomorph queen's DNA got mixed in, so the clone, called Ripley 8, grew up with an embryo inside her. The scientists take the embryo out and raise it for its eggs, and they keep Ripley 8 around as a research subject. She now has extra strength and reflexes, acidic blood, a psychic link to the Xenomorphs, and some of the original Ripley's memories. A crew of mercenaries on the Betty (Elgyn, Johner, Christie, Vriess, Hillard and Annalee Call) then docks with a shipment of kidnapped humans in stasis, and the scientists use them to raise adult Xenomorphs.
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Seven earlier drafts of Ripley
Call recognizes Ripley 8's name and tries to kill her, but the Xenomorphs have already been cloned, so it is too late. The adult Xenomorphs escape when one of them kills another, and the acid blood eats through the cell walls. They grab Dr. Gediman, wreck parts of the Auriga, and kill most of the people who do not get off in time, including General Perez and Elgyn. Dr. Wren points out that the ship's default emergency order is to fly home to Earth, which would bring the Xenomorphs with it. Ripley 8, the mercenaries, Wren, DiStephano and Purvis, who is carrying an embryo, make for the Betty, planning to blow up the Auriga. On the route, Ripley 8 finds a lab full of the failed earlier clones. One survivor begs her to end it, and Ripley 8 does, then burns the room.
A flooded kitchen and a surprise about Call
The group swims through a flooded kitchen with two Xenomorphs after them. One is killed and the other takes Hillard. After they escape, it returns and blinds Christie, who kills it at the cost of his own life. Wren turns on the group and shoots Call, and when she survives the shot, it turns out she is a synthetic. She belongs to a line called Autons, which became lifelike enough to become conscious and revolt. Ripley 8 makes her connect to the ship's computer in a small chapel, and Call sets the Auriga to crash into Earth to destroy the Xenomorphs. Ripley 8 is captured, Wren shoots Purvis and takes Call hostage, and Purvis grabs Wren as his embryo bursts out, killing them both.
The queen has a baby and the baby picks a mother
Ripley 8 is taken to the nest, where she finds Gediman partly cocooned. The queen, whose DNA mixed with Ripley 8's, has developed a womb and gives birth to a Xenomorph with human features. The hybrid will not bond with the queen, decides Ripley 8 is its mother, and kills the queen and Gediman. This is the scene people dread most, and it comes in the last stretch of the movie. The hybrid follows Ripley 8 to the Betty and attacks Call, and DiStephano dies trying to help. Ripley 8 distracts the creature, melts a hole in a window with her acid blood, and pushes it toward the opening. Decompression pulls it through the hole and into space. Ripley 8 watches and cries.
The ending, explained
The countdown on the Auriga keeps running while Ripley 8, Call, Johner and Vriess take off in the Betty. The Auriga hits Earth in a large explosion. From the Betty, the four look down at the planet. Call asks Ripley 8 what she wants to do next. She says she does not know, because she is a stranger here too. Wren, Gediman, Purvis, DiStephano, Christie, Perez and Elgyn are all dead.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether Alien Resurrection has a scene after the credits, so stay if you are curious.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: No dog dies in this one.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Alien Resurrection scary?
Alien Resurrection is a 5 out of 10, and the dread lasts about a night. It has jump scares and a lot of gore, but it is more gross and tense than frightening, apart from the hybrid creature near the end.
How does Alien Resurrection end?
Ripley 8 kills the hybrid by pushing it through a hole in a window, and the survivors escape in the Betty. The Auriga crashes into Earth, and Ripley 8 says she is a stranger here herself.
Does the dog die in Alien Resurrection?
No dog dies in Alien Resurrection. The only animals are Xenomorphs, and some of them are killed, including the queen.
Is there a post-credits scene in Alien Resurrection?
Nobody has confirmed whether Alien Resurrection has a scene after the credits, so staying is your call.
What is the creature at the end of Alien Resurrection?
It is a hybrid Xenomorph with human features, born when the queen developed a womb from Ripley 8's DNA. It treats Ripley 8 as its mother, and the queen does not survive meeting it.
