James Cameron and Michael Biehn Rip Into Alien 3 While Defending David Fincher

Michael Biehn and James Cameron just reunited on Biehn's podcast, and yes, they went there: Alien 3. If you still grind your teeth over that movie's opening, you are very much their target audience.

The Biehn/Cameron run that people weirdly forget

Biehn and Cameron made three movies together, and all three matter. Biehn was Kyle Reese in The Terminator, briefly shot a dream-sequence cameo for Terminator 2 that ended up on the cutting room floor, jumped into Aliens as Corporal Hicks after James Remar got fired midstream, and then flipped to the dark side for The Abyss as the lone Cameron-era Biehn villain. Quietly, that is a killer trio.

Alien 3 still hits a nerve

Decades later, the Fox choice to kill off Hicks and Newt in Alien 3 (Lance Henriksen's Bishop at least pops up for a bit) still bugs both guys. On Biehn's show, Just Fooling About With Michael Biehn, Cameron did not sugarcoat it.

"I thought that was the stupidest f*cking thing."

He laid out the logic in his very Cameron way: you spend a whole movie building audience goodwill around Hicks, Newt, and Bishop, and then the sequel opens by tossing them in the trash and swapping in a bunch of prisoners nobody is inclined to root for. His words, not mine. Importantly, he separates that call from David Fincher himself. Cameron says he likes Fincher's work, points out Alien 3 was Fincher's first feature, and notes the studio tug-of-war he was dealing with. Translation: he gives Fincher a pass for inheriting a mess.

The likeness story that suddenly feels very 2025

The conversation veers into a very modern worry: AI and using actors' faces without sign-off. Biehn says Alien 3 used his likeness without his permission, and he only found out because a producer he was working with tipped him off. When he pushed back, the studio dangled a big check to make it official — big enough that, according to Biehn, it was more than he made on Aliens. He still said no. Fincher even called him personally, and Biehn's response was, verbatim: "go f*ck yourself man." Cameron, deadpan as ever, followed with: "I wonder why you've never been cast in a David Fincher film."

Where Cameron lands on Fincher and Alien now

Despite all that, Cameron insists there's no bad blood with Fincher — "he's my kind of ornery," as he put it. As for the franchise today, Cameron says he liked Alien: Earth, was more mixed on Alien: Romulus (he was into parts of it), and has zero desire to return to the series himself. In his view, it's drifted into being too fan-driven, and there isn't enough money you could wave in his face to change his mind.

• Cameron still loathes Alien 3's decision to wipe out Hicks and Newt out of the gate
• Both he and Biehn basically absolve Fincher, framing it as a first-feature caught in studio crosswinds
• Biehn says Alien 3 used his image without consent; he refused a hefty payout that topped his Aliens salary, even after a direct call from Fincher
• Cameron says he digs Fincher personally, liked Alien: Earth, only liked parts of Alien: Romulus, and has no interest in coming back to Alien

What do you think — killing Hicks and Newt: franchise self-sabotage or bold swing that never got a fair shake?