Egg Silo

H. R. Giger's final design for the Egg Silo.

The Egg Silo, also known as the Pyramid, was a location cut from Alien during its production. It was to be the original location where the Xenomorph Eggs were discovered on LV-426.

Overview

The Pyramid

Originally, the Alien creature was intended to be an advanced, cultured civilization with an incredibly complex life cycle, involving the use of living hosts for gestation, followed by an incredibly violent and aggressive adolescent stage. With such a complicated means of procreation, the species had developed stringent religious beliefs based around their method of reproduction, involving the impregnation of sacrificial animal hosts inside ornate stone pyramids.

In Dan O'Bannon's original script, it was inside one of these pyramids where Dallas, Kane and Lambert discovered the Xenomorph Eggs, rather than on the derelict ship — the idea being that the derelict and its crew had simply stumbled upon the structure and succumbed to the creatures it contained previously, foreshadowing what would happen to the Nostromo. The pyramid was going to be filled with elaborate hieroglyphics, similar to the pyramids found on Earth, and featured a prominent central sacrificial chamber where hosts were inseminated atop a stone plinth (an idea notably recycled/adapted in Alien vs. Predator).

The Silo

When Walter Hill and David Giler performed rewrites on Alien's script, the structure's design and background was altered, becoming a cylindrical silo of human origin with an industrial, utilitarian interior; the Eggs within were intended to be a human bioweapon created by scientists, with the Nostromo crew lured there so they could be unwitting test subjects. A final iteration of the structure designed by H. R. Giger reinstated its extraterrestrial origins, with its appearance matching the bio-mechanical aesthetic he had applied to much of the rest of the film.

Removal

The entire Egg Silo concept was cut before filming due to budget constraints. According to director Ridley Scott:

"The pyramid and the derelict — two different elements — were still the subject of a seesaw debate when I came on the project. I would love to have shot it, but the more I thought about it the more I realized it would have been wonderful in a three-hour version. What finally cracked it was the budget. We just had to get rid of it. And you know, sometimes financial practicalities force you to do a certain amount of editorial work, and I'm glad we simplified it."

―Ridley Scott, regarding the removal of the Egg Silo

Trivia

• The Xenomorph Hives seen on Earth in Aliens: Nightmare Asylum greatly resemble Giger's concept artwork of the Egg Silo.
• The design of the Egg Sacs in the 2017 film Alien: Covenant resembles a smaller version of H.R Giger's Egg Silo.
• Dan O'Bannon's original concept of an ornate pyramid, or Egg Silo, containing an alien threat within has also been featured in a number of other franchise-related releases including the 1990 comic book short story Aliens: Advent/Terminus, the 2004 feature film Alien vs. Predator, the 2012 feature film Prometheus, the 2020 comic book adaptation Alien: The Original Screenplay, and the 2022 novel Aliens: Vasquez.
• Some of the biomechanical structures seen in Xeno City from Aliens: Dark Descent resemble Giger's Egg Silo.

Gallery

Concept art

Concept art of Kane exploring the stone pyramid.

Concept art of the cylindrical, man-made Egg silo (visible in the background).

Other

Egg Silo-like structures in Xeno City, from Aliens: Dark Descent video game.

See also

• E. R. Fazio - A character also scrapped from the film Alien.
• Eggmorphing - A concept also scrapped from the film Alien.