Deleted Sci-Fi Movie Scenes You Never Knew Existed
Science fiction is one of cinema's oldest genres and has produced some of the medium's greatest films. Telling stories set in far-off alien planets or following adventurers through time, space, and beyond, they can also be some of the most challenging films to make, involving complicated special effects, intricately woven stories, and elaborate, immersive fantasy worlds. What ends up on screen is often a stunning spectacle, expanding the movie-goer's perception of what is and isn't possible.
To get there, filmmakers must ensure never to overwhelm or confuse the audience with too much information. With the added worry of special effects, they also have to keep an eye on ballooning budgets in a way an ordinary drama might not be concerned with. This often leads to scripts being chopped up and scenes reshot to make information flow more clearly. Sometimes, entire scenes are removed for time or financial limitations.
You may be familiar with classics like "Back to the Future," "Iron Man," and "Starship Troopers," but you might not know about all the scenes that wound up on the cutting room floor. From humorous moments that never made it to the screen, to darker twists deemed too grim for the finished product, we've collected a host of deleted sci-fi movie scenes you never knew existed.
Khan had a baby in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
One of the most celebrated science fiction movies of the early '80s, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" may have saved the franchise after the disappointment of the first movie a few years earlier. But it almost included a subplot that could have hurt its critical success.
In addition to a well-known deleted scene involving Scotty's (Leonard Nimoy) nephew – who is killed after Khan's (Ricardo Montalban) initial attack on the Enterprise — the movie also cut out an entire character: Khan's infant son. In this version, the baby is introduced early in the film when Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Captain Terrell (Paul Winfield) are searching Khan's ship, the Botany Bay.
Later in the film, however, the child is with Khan aboard the USS Reliant, and in another deleted scene, is killed when he accidentally activates the Genesis device. Considering that the studio had added a more positive ending late in production — including an inspiring eulogy for Spock — it could be that they felt the death of Scotty's nephew and Khan's infant son were a bit too grim for a PG-rated sci-fi family film. The intentions were revealed for the first time in a 1982 issue of Starblazer Magazine, but full footage of Khan's child has never been seen.
Scenes we'll never see from Event Horizon's alternate cut
Even the best movies will have scenes removed before they're released, but in the case of "Event Horizon," there's an entirely different cut that has been lost to time. This version of the film reportedly runs over two solid hours — as opposed to the theatrically released 95 minutes — and includes far more gore. The real tragedy, however, is that the studio didn't feel that the footage was worth keeping and much of it has never seen the light of day.
Some excised moments include Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) discovering a loose tooth in a corridor — apparently the remains of a former crewman. Most of the deleted moments, however, were extended versions of existing scenes that were far more grisly than the studio or test audiences could handle. A few of these managed to survive — with rumors that the canister of film was discovered in an old Transylvania salt mine (no we're not making that up) — eventually making their way onto a later DVD release in a raw, unfinished form. Not all of the deleted sequences could be restored, however, as the newly-discovered film was in poor condition.
A baboon and a cat get mixed up in The Fly
Director David Cronenberg made a name for himself as the go-to filmmaker for body horror thanks to early cult classics like "Videodrome" and "Scanners." In 1985, he was given the task of updating the '50s B-movie "The Fly." With Jeff Goldblum in the title role, Cronenberg crafted one of the most gruesome mainstream science fiction movies ever made. But if it hadn't been cut, one scene in particular would have made it even harder to stomach.
It takes place after scientist Seth Brundle has begun his hideous transformation. Looking for a way to reverse the effects, Brundle thinks he's found the answer, and proceeds to test out an experimental procedure on a baboon and a cat. However, it goes horribly wrong. The process inadvertently amalgamates the two animals and Brundle is forced to beat it to death to spare it the agony of its own existence.
A truly disturbing moment, what might be most shocking is that it was reportedly included in early UK screenings of the film. So horrified were movie-goers that the studio chose to cut it for wide release. It wasn't until the film's 20th anniversary that it turned up again, this time on a deluxe Blu-ray release.
An Iron Man scene so bad Marvel won't let you see it
There's no end to the number of great deleted scenes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, whether they were in the scripts, made it to the storyboard process, or were actually filmed. Most of them have found their way out of the vault in one form or another, and Marvel loves including as many as possible on their home video releases. Nevertheless, for 2008's "Iron Man," there are some deleted scenes that will never be released — not if Kevin Feige has anything to say about it.
Interviewed by Screen Rant, Marvel executive producer Jeremy Latcham revealed there are deleted scenes that were deemed so atrocious that they'll never be made public. One of them sees Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) helping prison guard Abu (Sayed Badreya) do some chores. "Tony is doing laundry for the captors, but he's really breaking the washing machine and stealing parts from it to build the Mark 1 suit. It's so absurd. It's wild," Latcham revealed.
Cut from the film, the scene was so poorly made that studio boss Feige never wants it shown. "I remember Kevin saying to me in 2012 ... 'We can never put out Abu doing laundry. People will know we don't know what we're doing. It'll be embarrassing if they see these scenes.'"
Starship Troopers left out some romance
"Starship Troopers" is a sci-fi action classic from 1997, that in some ways could be described as a romance. The love quadrangle between Rico (Casper Van Dien), Carmen (Denise Richards), Zander (Patrick Muldoon), and Dizzy (Dina Meyer), makes up a major part of the film and is a huge focus early on. Yet, if director Paul Verhoeven had gotten his way, the movie would have had an even greater emphasis on the romance angle of the story. In the end, much of it wound up deleted from the film after test audiences didn't react well to the subplot.
Some of the scenes cut include a moment where Carmen deflects Rico's sexual advances and a farewell between them where it becomes clear that their relationship is somewhat forbidden. In one later scene, following the attack on Klendathu, Zander tells Carmen that he loves her, helping to reinforce that new relationship in a way the final film never does.
The last deleted scene comes right at the end of the film. We'd seen the death of Dizzy and Zander earlier, and some fans may have wondered what that meant for Johnny and Carmen's relationship. Well, this scene answers that question, showing the pair sharing a passionate kiss just before the credits roll.
Murphy visits his own grave... twice in RoboCop
If you're looking for the best movie about a robot cop, you'd be hard-pressed to find one that beats the 1987 sci-fi action thriller "RoboCop," also from director Paul Verhoeven. Diehard fans may consider it a perfect '80s action movie, with not a moment wasted in capturing the excitement of mortally wounded cop Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) transformed into the heroic cyborg known as RoboCop. That perfection came from trimming a few moments from the original script, and one of them saw the hero cop returning to the site of his own grave.
Never filmed, the scene was included in both the novelization and the Marvel Comics adaptation. And when it came time for a sequel, "RoboCop 2," director Irvin Kershner decided to make the scene happen. This time, the sequence was filmed and was planned to be part of an early moment carrying over from the first film's end where RoboCop embraces his identity as Alex Murphy. Despite all the effort put into making the scene a reality, the graveyard visit once again didn't make it into the film, winding up on the cutting room floor.
Nobody will ever see Kubrick's cut scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey
Directed by the legendary Stanley Kubrick, "2001: A Space Odyssey" is one of the most seminal works in the genre. It reshaped science fiction with a mix of thought-provoking drama, nail-biting suspense, and state-of-the-art special effects. With a run-time clocking in at just shy of two-and-a-half hours, you might not think there would be any deleted scenes from this groundbreaking classic, but you'd be wrong.
For years, rumors have persisted about Kubrick having trimmed some 20 minutes of footage, and we finally got confirmation when reels from the film were discovered — like "Event Horizon" — in a salt mine (a common storage site for film reels due to its naturally dry and cool, isolated environment). These scenes aren't exactly the most pivotal plot points, but do serve to flesh out some of the finer details of the mission to Jupiter seen in the film.
Some of the footage includes extended sequences of astronaut Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) jogging and an alternate version of the opening with apes tossing bones by the monolith. One deleted scene saw HAL 9000 ending the radio communication between the Discovery and Poole's pod not long before he's killed, which makes a later exchange between Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) and HAL make a little more sense.
Editors took out the garbage in The Fifth Element
Starring action hero Bruce Willis, "The Fifth Element" helped bring supermodel and singer Milla Jovovich to fame with her performance as a mysterious alien woman that everyone is after. Set in the 23rd century, "The Fifth Element" introduces Jovovich as Leeloo, who an order of ancient monks believes is the key to defeating a cosmic evil. As exciting as the film is, one of the best elements of "The Fifth Element" was its convincing visuals that created a gritty, grounded, immersive world of the future.
A scene in the film that got deleted would have gone further into making the world feel truly real. It takes place when Dallas is ferrying Leeloo and the monk Cornelius (Ian Holm) to the airport. There they would have encountered a group of alien garbage collectors who were on strike, and clashing with local police. In the finished film, there are still vestiges of this scene, as the airport itself is filled with garbage piled meters high that is never adequately explained — the airport attendant only briefly apologizes for "the mess." A behind-the-scenes featurette titled "The Alien Element: Strikers" on the movie's 4K UHD Blu-ray chronicles this lost moment.
Data's cat gets a new owner in Star Trek: Nemesis
The last film in the franchise to feature the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the 2002 box office dud "Star Trek: Nemesis" was met with a critical drubbing for being boring, lifeless, and lacking all the charm of the TV series. But quite a few deleted scenes would have gone a long way to adding in some of what it was missing, mostly smaller character moments between the likes of Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes), and Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden). While fans have known about some of these cut scenes for decades, one recently surfaced that was never included on any home video release.
It comes after the death of the android Commander Data (Brent Spiner). Aboard the Enterprise, which remains under repair, we find Worf (Michael Dorn) and Geordi (LeVar Burton) going through their late comrade's quarters. Not included on the film's initial DVD release despite the presence of other deleted moments, it has since surfaced online in low resolution. We see Geordi and Worf perusing the various items, including many callbacks to episodes of their old series including the violin Data played as Sherlock Holmes. But the most touching moment arrives when Data's cat Spot leaps into the arms of the surly Klingon, Mr. Worf, who reluctantly adopts the feline as his own.
A mystery is solved in a crucial Independence Day deleted scene
The biggest sci-fi blockbuster of the '90s, "Independence Day" was a watershed flick that — much like "Jaws" in 1975 — changed the face of summer movies forever. It's not without its plot holes, though, with many fans raising questions about the virus created by David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), which he uses to take down the alien mothership. Some have wondered how his terrestrial laptop could so easily interface with technology from another world, while others have scratched their heads at how he even knew how to take down their computer system at all.
A deleted scene — part of the film's 20th anniversary home video release — would have answered one of those questions. In it, Levinson lays out his plan to crash the alien computer network in more detail while he's given a tour of the captured alien ship by Dr. Brackish Okun (Brent Spiner). While Okun admits they have very little idea as to how the alien technology works, Levinson deduces that a sequential repeating pattern they've witnessed is a code that they're using to coordinate their ships.
It might not be the most air-tight explanation, but it at least gives us a glimpse of Levinson's theories and allows us to imagine better how he came up with a strategy to sabotage their systems.
Klaatu gets angry in a cut scene from The Day the Earth Stood Still
Before the likes of "Independence Day" and "Star Wars" turned the genre into blockbuster extravaganzas, science fiction films were thoughtful, talky dramas, and one of the best was "The Day the Earth Stood Still." In this eerie story, an alien visitor named Klaatu (Michael Rennie) arrives with a dire message for Earth's leaders that he will not reveal until they can all gather together peacefully. Escaping government custody, Klaatu tries to blend in with humanity in order to learn why they are so distrustful of one another. But there's one scene cut from the film that most fans of the movie have probably never seen.
In the film, a detective arrives to take Klaatu to see a local scientist, Professor Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe), but a deleted scene reveals there was originally much more to this sequence. In the original script, the detective first takes him down to the police station for questioning. While there, a local man is brought in seriously injured, and it's revealed that the man was attacked after he was mistaken for Klaatu. Feeling a sense of guilt, but also confusion as to why people would attack a stranger in such a manner, Klaatu begs for the police to take him straight to Barnhardt.
Though a brief scene, it's one that adds important context, showing both the panic Klaatu's presence has created, as well as the spaceman's own sense of empathy.
A very different start to Blade Runner
When it comes to "Blade Runner," there are probably too many deleted scenes to count, and over the years, most have found their way into a multitude of different cuts of the film that have been released. This includes the Workprint cut, the director's cut, and the so-called "Final Cut." Yet none of these versions of the 1982 neo-noir cyberpunk classic include the alternate, deleted opening scene. That's because it was never actually filmed, and was only revealed years after the fact in a series of storyboards, first published in "Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner."
In the alternate first scene, Detective Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is seen landing his Spinner on a desolate road. He exits the flying car, enters an empty home, and notices that there is still hot food on the stove. Rather than hide and wait for the house's owner, Deckard makes himself comfortable. When a large, hulking man walks through the door, they have a confrontation that leaves the man on the wrong end of Deckard's gun. Deckard then rips out a piece of the man's jaw — now revealed as a replicant — and takes off in his Spinner.
If all of this sounds familiar, it should. That's because this original opening was used as the intro to the sequel, "Blade Runner 2049," which was released nearly 40 years later.
A T-Rex attack we never saw in Jurassic Park
Featuring some of the most jaw-dropping action sequences in movie history, "Jurassic Park" is a true blockbuster adventure in every way. It's left indelible images etched into the minds of countless movie-goers: whether it's the first sight of the brontosauruses or the clicking talons of the velociraptor on the cold kitchen floor. No matter how many memorable moments the movie boasts, there's still more that didn't make it into the film, possibly due to budgetary issues.
This deleted action sequence, though, would have seen Alan Grant, (Sam Neill), Tim Murphy (Joseph Mazzello), and Lex Murphy (Ariana Richards) stumbling upon a sleeping tyrannosaurus rex while roaming the jungle. Warily attempting to sneak past the beast without drawing its attention, they make their way to a nearby structure where they are able to grab an inflatable raft from storage. They take off down a river, but just when the trio thinks they're in the clear, the T-Rex bursts out from behind the trees and comes after them.
Thankfully, just as the T-Rex is about to catch up to them, it knocks over a tree that blocks the river and allows them to escape. Though we're not sure if it was ever filmed, the storyboard reveals what could have been another unforgettable moment.
Ghostbusters fans got a treat with newly discovered deleted scenes
A supernatural comedy with a pair of former "Saturday Night Live" stars leading the way, "Ghostbusters" defied the odds and went on to become a pop culture icon. It's grown a diehard group of fans who for decades only had a pair of films to pour over. So you can imagine the thrill when in 2017 new footage from the film was discovered that included some hilarious deleted scenes. Found in the personal collection of director Ivan Reitman, the reels' unearthing caused a stir among the fandom.
Included in the reels was a scene labeled "Fort Detmerring," a long-known but never-seen moment where Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) has a sexual encounter with a ghost. In the final film, remnants of this scene are shown in a montage, but the full sequence has never been revealed. It opens with the Ecto-1 arriving at the fort, and the team exploring the grounds. Ray puts on an old naval uniform he finds and lays down in a bed before the ghost of a beautiful woman enters the room. Following a brief unseen sex act that somehow did manage to make it into the movie, Winston is seen knocking on the door to the room wondering what's going on.
Given the fact that the most risque portion of the scene wound up in the film, it's likely that the full extended scene was cut for time.
Back to the Future has scenes nobody's seen before
Another '80s icon, "Back to the Future" sent Michael J. Fox hurtling back to the '50s where he meets his parents. There, Marty discovers that his father George (Crispin Glover) is a total dweeb, and when Marty's mother Lorraine (Lea Thompson) falls in love with him, he's forced to help his father get the girl in order to save his own existence. The film hammers home what a loser George is by showing him being bullied by tough guy Biff (Thomas F. Wilson). But a deleted scene makes George look even worse.
During the Enchantment Under the Sea dance at the climax of the movie, George is preparing to go through with his plan to "rescue" Lorraine from a staged encounter with Marty. Nervous about acting at the right moment, he seeks out a phone booth and calls the operator to get the time, only to be locked inside by Mark, the redheaded class clown who later cuts into his dance with Lorraine. With a prop trident holding the door closed, George is then discovered by Principal Strickland (James Tolkan), who scolds him for being a slacker, but doesn't let him out.
Probably cut for time or pacing reasons, this sequence actually explains why George didn't make it to the car in time to stop Marty. But it wound up being a good thing because his delay meant he was able to knock out bully Biff instead, impressing Lorraine into dating him.
Deleted scenes from Star Trek Into Darkness have never seen the light of day
Following "Star Trek: Nemesis," the franchise took a hiatus from the big screen but came roaring back with a new look in J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot. Its sequel, "Star Trek Into Darkness," centered once again on Khan, this time played by "Sherlock" star Benedict Cumberbatch, who was an even more ruthless and cunning villain and willing to do anything for his cause. But this time he was being manipulated by a secret black ops division of Starfleet called Section 31, led by Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller). While the final film doesn't reveal the truth about who is manipulating him until later, an early deleted scene almost gives it away.
It comes in the form of a video communication to Marcus from Thomas Harewood (Noel Clarke), who is about to detonate a bomb in London at Khan's behest. The scene shows Marcus receiving the transmission in his office, with Harewood informing him that what was about to happen was a message from Khan. Ultimately, though, producers cut the scene because it revealed a little too much about the players involved. "We felt that it was very important not to introduce the admiral in any way or tip our hand about who he would become later on in the film," said the movie's editor, Mary Jo Markey in the film's commentary. "We realized to hold him back for a long time would be more shocking."
A massive opening action sequence was cut from Avengers: Infinity War
The culmination of a decade of stories, "Avengers: Infinity War" brought together just about everyone in the MCU to battle Thanos the Mad Titan (Josh Brolin), the big bad who wanted to erase half of all life in the universe. With such a broad, sweeping story that spanned the entire galaxy, there was a lot to pack in, and clocking in at nearly two-and-a-half hours it even garnered jeers from some reviewers who felt it was too long and overstuffed. According to Thanos' creator Jim Starlin, though, the original plan was actually to open the movie with an additional 45-minute action sequence.
Instead of beginning with an attack on an Asgardian vessel as in the final version, the movie would have begun with Thanos' assault on the planet Xandar. He decimates the entire world in his search for the power stone, which was under protection by the Nova Corps. "There was a whole sequence of him getting the first gem and they had to cut that out," Starlin explained in an interview with Collider. "They shot it, but they never wanted to spend the money on the effects and they didn't want the movie to be as long as the second one ["Avengers: Endgame"] was."
Starlin seems to feel that the filmmakers may be regretting the choice not to invest in completing the sequence. "They didn't realize it was going to be quite the hit it was."
The best scene from Looper wasn't in the movie
Most films these days will include plenty of deleted scenes once they make their way to home video. Fans love to go over the various bits of the movie they never got to see, but they're typically superfluous moments and it's usually easy to understand why they were removed. Sometimes, though, there's a scene that leaves you wondering why it wasn't in the movie, and that's the case with a deleted scene from Rian Johnson's 2012 sci-fi action movie "Looper."
The film stars Bruce Willis as Joe, an aging hitman who uses time travel to dispose of his targets in the past. When he's due for retirement and his superiors send him back in time to be killed by his younger self (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), old Joe manages to escape and now must team up with young Joe to stay alive. During their team-up, young Joe hides older Joe in the home of Sara (Emily Blunt), and in this lost moment, a mafia thug (Garret Dillahunt) shows up looking for him.
In a tense, drawn-out search of the house, Sara gives the goon a tour of the basement where Joe is hiding, and we're sure it's going to lead to a violent confrontation. The suspense is palpable as the mobster stalks the room, only for us to realize that Joe is hiding beneath the floor, where he is able to escape notice.
A grisly death was cut from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
The MCU is littered with juicy deleted scenes, but few are as jaw-dropping as a moment that got cut from "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." The film sees Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) face off against Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), who has turned twisted and vengeful after the death of Vision in "Avengers: Endgame" and her children were taken from her in "WandaVision." Determined to find an alternate reality where she and her family can live in peace, Wanda finds herself traveling the multiverse slaughtering everyone in her path.
The movie does show her taking the proverbial ax to the likes of Mr. Fantastic (John Krasinski), Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), and Black Bolt (Anson Mount), but a deleted scene further shows just how vicious she really is. It came to light not long after the movie was released thanks to storyboards posted on Instagram by Jimmy Simser, an artist who worked on the film. These sequential drawings show the moment when Scarlet Witch arrives at Kamar Taj to get her hands on America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez). In this unseen version, though, Wanda isn't alone as she brings with her the decapitated head of Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
Bill & Ted had some excellent deleted scenes
With a time-traveling phone booth and a guide from the future (George Carlin), California teens Bill S. Preston Esquire (Alex Winter) and Ted 'Theodore' Logan (Keanu Reeves) are sent on an epic quest in 1989's "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." It's a weird and wild story that sees the two friends traveling into the past to meet historical figures to help them get a passing grade in school to save the future, where they'll eventually become humanity's greatest heroes. Over the years, deleted scenes have cropped up, and in 2020 — with a third film on the horizon — one of the film's stars dug into the vault to reveal a new and surprising one.
Posting on Twitter, Alex Winter showed off images of a sequence early in the film that saw Bill and Ted on their way home from school. The sequence would have included a bizarre musical number that fans ultimately never got to see. "The opening was an almost surreal rock number where Keanu and I are at a bus stop waiting for the school bus in the morning and we start to air-guitar and rock out," Winter told Rolling Stone. "And it turned into a whole dance routine. Then it ends up with us kind of getting into a skirmish with the school jocks and you meet our characters that way. All of that stuff was shot and none of it made it into the film."
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial had some unsettling lost moments
A box office juggernaut, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" was nominated for nine Academy Awards including best picture and best director, winning best original score and three additional technical awards. The story of a strange alien visitor who is befriended by a pair of young children named Elliott (Henry Thomas) and Gertie (Drew Barrymore), the film remains one of the most beloved family movies of all time. Yet, there are some deleted scenes that have shown up over the years that could have changed the tone of the film.
In addition to a comedic moment that didn't make the cut because the E.T. puppet just wasn't convincing — something that was improved with CGI and released in a later version of the film — there's another scene that seems awfully out of place in a movie aimed at kids and families. Popping up decades later thanks to some behind-the-scenes stills, it shows Elliott's mother Mary (Dee Wallace) lying face down but topless, asleep in bed late at night. As she slumbers, the alien creeps into her bedroom and silently observes her. Though probably intended to show E.T. learning about humans, the images give off a very unsettling vibe that might have disturbed the intended family audience.