Every Final Girl In The Alien Franchise, Ranked By Survival Skills

Famous for its strong female leads, the Alien franchise has many “final girls” throughout its $1 billion franchise. As a term first coined in 1992 by Carol J Clover, a professor of American Film, “final girl” describes a trope of a surviving female character in horror films, especially ones who are more intelligent and often play a misfit role. The trope has been around for a long time and applies to many different characters, so it is hard to distinguish which horror movie had the first “final girl,” however, Alien has some of the most famous iterations of the trope.

Since the first Alien film was released in 1979, there have been seven movies in the franchise, and every Alien movie follows the trend of hosting a female lead. The so-called “final girls” use their ingenuity to outwit the Xenomorph in the movies, leading to their survival by the end of the film. However, each female lead in Alien is set apart by their different survival methods and professions, which lead to varying success rates against the Xenomorphs, and some “final girls” are arguably better than others.

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8 Annalee Call – Alien Resurrection

Call Had Unique Knowledge About Ripley 8

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Call is the only female android in the Alien movies and was one of the “final girls” in Alien Resurrection. As an advanced android, Call deliberately kept to herself aboard the Betty to avoid detection as an Auton, causing others to treat her with some suspicion. However, Call was also shown to be smarter than those around her due to her android status, having secret knowledge of Ripley 8’s existence, and the nature of the Xenomorphs, which enabled her to find Ripley 8 on the USM Auriga.

Call originally possessed a modem that could remotely access mainframes, but she destroyed it alongside other Autons in rejection of the company.

Call considered herself more human than machine, often showing disdain towards her makeup, and cared deeply about humans. In Alien Resurrection, she was able to manually patch into a computer to lead the Xenomorphs away and was also able to survive a blast from a zip gun, and Call’s mechanical nature made her more resilient than her human companions. Despite being immune to many attacks, Call was somewhat a pacifist, so her survival skills were mainly due to her advanced knowledge, rather than her physical prowess, which allowed her to make it as one of the “final girls.”

7 Elizabeth Shaw – Prometheus

Shaw’s Fascination With The Engineers Led To Her Death

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As an archaeologist, Shaw is set apart from her colleagues due to her religious beliefs, which motivates her mission to find humanity’s creators, the Engineers. Shaw has advanced knowledge in many fields, such as ancient cultures and medical procedures, and this is demonstrated in the scene where Shaw dissects the Engineer’s head in Prometheus. She was the only human survivor on the mission, as the only other survivor was the calculating android, David, making her the “final girl.”

As a result of her religion, Shaw was driven to find her creators in a way other characters were not.

As a result of her religion, Shaw was driven to find her creators in a way other characters were not. For example, she underwent a forced operation to remove an alien embryo following David’s secret experiment, despite the MedPod not being intended for this, and escaped into the ship afterward, showing extreme resilience. Shaw’s determination is particularly prominent at the end of Prometheus, as she continues her mission instead of returning to Earth, making her the first character in the Alien franchise to do so. However, she placed too much trust in David, which ultimately resulted in Shaw’s offscreen death in Alien: Covenant.

6 Katherine Daniels – Alien: Covenant

Daniels Used Her Surroundings To Fight

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Daniels is the “final girl” in Alien: Covenant and is the chief terraformist on the colony ship bound for Origae-6. When the crew intercepts a mysterious signal from a nearby planet while repairing damage to the ship’s solar sail, Daniels is set apart from the group for opposing the decision to investigate. Having lost her husband in the solar flare attack, Daniels was apprehensive about straying from their intended course and even went on record to express her discontent, which made her an outlier in the group.

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Final girls continue to be pivotal figures in the horror genre, as specific franchises have spawned some of the most legendary survivors.

Daniels proved herself knowledgeable in her field as she was the first to notice the lack of creatures despite an ecosystem being present and showed initiative by requesting a makeshift escape craft just in case. Daniels’ character is similar to Elizabeth Shaw’s as both their partners were killed, and they continued with their missions at the end of the movie, however, Daniels was more reluctant. Daniels survives in Alien: Covenant alongside Tennessee and Walter (who is actually David) by killing two Xenomorphs, although, impressively, she hardly uses the weapons she finds, instead relying on the equipment around her.

5 Ripley 8 – Alien Resurrection

The First Xenomorph-human Hybrid Was Deadly

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As the only successful Xenomorph-human hybrid, Ripley 8 is a unique character. Her unusual biology led to her being an outcast to both Xenomorphs and humans, regardless of her decision to stand with humans. Ripley 8 had an advantage over the other characters in Alien Resurrection as she retained the original Ellen Ripley and the Xenomorphs’ memories, allowing her to have advanced knowledge of the situation that helps her survive at the end of the movie.

Due to her hybrid status, Ripley 8 had more attributes that helped her to survive; she was able to tell when the Xenomorphs were near, had inhuman strength, durability, heightened senses, acidic blood, and was telepathically linked to the Xenomorph Queen.

Due to her hybrid status, Ripley 8 had more attributes that helped her to survive; she was able to tell when the Xenomorphs were near, had inhuman strength, durability, heightened senses, acidic blood, and was telepathically linked to the Xenomorph Queen. These attributes made her a good tracker of Xenomorphs, and Ripley 8’s cold nature meant that she was not tied down by helping others to survive. However, the Xenomorphs were less inclined to attack her, and the newborn even imprinted on her, which was not necessarily survival skills more than advantageous biology.

4 Kelly O’Brien – Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

Her Army Skills Protected Her Daughter

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Kelly O’Brien is one of the four people who survived Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, mostly due to her military training as she is a member of the US Army. She encounters Xenomorphs when she returns home from deployment and uses her skills to protect her family. Kelly is unable to form a close bond with her daughter as a result of her occupation, causing her to be a sort of outcast in her family, which fits the “final girl” trope.

The army thinks about containment first. They can’t risk this getting any worse. – Kelly O’Brien

Kelly used her military knowledge to her advantage in the movie, making tough calls such as letting her husband die to save her daughter. She was able to navigate the Xenomorph-infested town and escape with her daughter, Dallas, and Ricky, by utilizing her skills in combat, driving the APC, and piloting the helicopter at the end. Her army background equips Kelly with the survival skills needed to save her daughter, especially as she knew the army would prioritize containment.

3 Rain Carradine – Alien: Romulus

Rain Survives Despite The Odds

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Alien: Romulus had a different setup from previous Alien movies, as the main characters were just normal people who happened upon a space station that they wanted to use to escape their planet. Rain is the main protagonist alongside Andy, her synthetic brother, who is an outcast in Jackson’s Star colony due to their prejudices against synthetics. Rain is an outlier in the colony as she does not share their views on synthetics, and she defends Andy multiple times.

Although she lacked scientific or other advanced knowledge that previous
Alien
female leads had, Rain was able to survive a colony of Xenomorphs as well as the offspring, showing that she has natural survival skills.

Andy was designed to be Rain’s caretaker, but his outdated model made him a burden, causing Rain to consider him as a brother figure. Rain’s knowledge of synthetics helped the group in Alien: Romulus, as she was able to get Rook back online to gain information on what happened to the ship and altered Andy’s status to allow him to open prohibited areas. Although she lacked scientific or other advanced knowledge that previous Alien female leads had, Rain was able to survive a colony of Xenomorphs as well as the offspring, showing that she has natural survival skills.

2 Alexa Woods – Alien vs. Predator

Lex Formed An Alliance With Predator

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In the first Alien and Predator crossover, Lex is an environmental technician chosen by Weyland as part of a team to investigate an underground pyramid. Lex is surprisingly able to gain the respect of one of the Yautja (or Predators) in the movie, and the two work together to defeat the Xenomorphs. As a non-combatant figure, Lex is an outcast on the secret military expedition, but this does not deter her in her duty to keep them safe.

Scar actually crafted a weapon for Lex from a Xenomorph’s tail and a shield from its dome.

When the expedition members revealed their guns, Lex still demanded they leave as she felt responsible for their fates. When Lex encountered Scar, a Predator, she was able to use his spear to impale a Xenomorph, showing her quick thinking. Her resourcefulness and steady attitude allowed Lex to gain Scar’s respect, and he listened to her at numerous points in the movie. She was proven a natural survivor and the “final girl” in Alien vs. Predator, as Lex earned the respect of a race of aliens who are notably skilled hunters.

1 Ellen Ripley – Alien & Aliens

Ripley Lasted Three Alien Movies

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The most famous female character in the Alien movies is Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) as she played the lead role in three Alien films. Ripley is considered an outcast in the Alien franchise as no one believes her experiences, despite her defeating the Xenomorphs multiple times, showing that she is extremely innovative and smart. As a result, Ripley has become one of the best characters in sci-fi and is also one of the most iconic “final girls” in the horror genre.

Related The 10 Greatest Female Sci-Fi Movie Characters In The Past Decade

In recent years, there’s been a rise in the number of interesting, layered female characters in sci-fi films, protagonists and side characters alike.

Ripley survived her Xenomorph encounters due to her intelligence, stubborn attitude, and caring nature. When her crew member was infected by a facehugger in Alien, she refused to let them board, showing a logical approach despite any emotions she may have. As the only person to have survived the Nostromo Xenomorph attack, she also led the USCMC group in Aliens, assuming command and directing them in a very calm manner, while saving Newt. With three different incidents being resolved by her and many people saved, Ripley evidently has the best survival skills in the Alien franchise.

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The Alien franchise, which began with Ridley Scott’s 1979 film, is a Sci-Fi series comprised of several horror films, games, and comic books centered on humanity’s encounters with a hostile extraterrestrial species known as Xenomorphs. Characterized by their lethal prowess and capability to reproduce at an alarming rate, these creatures pose a profound threat to human existence. The primary series protagonist, Ellen Ripley, acts as the voice of reason as she seeks to keep the creatures out of the hands of greed-driven corporate scientists.

Movie(s) Alien (1979) , Aliens (1986) , Alien 3 (1992) , Alien: Resurrection (1997) , Prometheus (2012) , Alien: Covenant (2017) , Alien: Romulus (2024) Created by Ridley Scott First Film Alien (1979) Latest Film Alien: Romulus Upcoming TV Shows Alien: Earth

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