One of the most important characters of the movie, Aliens which debuted in 1986, was the quiet Rebecca „Newt” Jorden (of course besides Ellen Ripley) who was impersonated by a totally inexperienced 10-year-old girl, Carrie Henn.
Henn was chosen from five hundred children, and not having any acting experience (not even drama club) was definitely an advantage for her, because those applicants who had previously appeared in commercials started smiling after telling their scripts which was not a requirement at all – it rather meant a disadvantage for them.
It’s interesting that the little girl’s older brother, Christopher was also chosen for the film, who became his brother in the movie as well, but the boy’s scenes were deleted from the cinema version (viewers could only watch them later, after the extended version of Aliens had been published). After the movie’s success, a lot of interviews were made with Carrie Henn, and the little blonde girl stated in each of them that she wouldn’t like to act again.
And it happened so: not counting documentaries about Alien movies, Henn hasn’t appeared in any other film production. She got her degree in 2000, and then got a job as a teacher in the Californian Atwater. We could hear about her the next time when a non-official opportunity for an Alien spin-off came up.
Alien Identity, for which they wanted to collect money on Kickstarter, would have continued Newt’s story 14 years after Aliens, and Henn would have appeared as the character’s mother in a flashback scene.
Fox Studio producing Alien movies did not authorize the implementation of the production, which Adam Sonnet, the director has accepted, and said that he would concentrate on a genuine story instead of Alien Identity.
Triborn which is to be released in 2016 is also a sci-fi/action thriller, however one can’t know much about its story. But it’s sure that the planned Alien spin-off’s whole cast is involved in it – including Carrie Henn who returns to filming after three decades.
