Alien 3 (stylized as ALIEN3) is a 1992 American science-fiction horror film and the debut feature film of director David Fincher. The film is the third installment of the Alien film series. The film takes place after the events of Aliens (1986). An escape pod from the Colonial Marine spaceship Sulaco crash-lands on a prison-run refinery planet, killing everyone aboard except Lieutenant Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). Unknown to Ripley, an Alien organism was also aboard the escape pod.