Movies | Pop Culture | 80s

'E.T.' Actor Reveals What The Ending Was Supposed To Be And Honestly, It Changes Everything

By Tanya |

There are some movies that just transcend generations. It didn't matter how old you were when you saw E.T. for the first time, your mind was blown. The little extra terrestrial that we all fell in love with was really one-of-a-kind, and his story brought a tear to our eyes over and over again, no matter how many times we watched it.

Universal Pictures

Seeing E.T. leave the planet seems like it is the most natural ending point. How would you even attempt to follow up that emotional and heartbreaking moment? When E.T. says "I'll be right here," you know that your eyes were watering. Well, it turns out that the iconic scene that ended one of the most influential movies of our childhood almost was completely different!

Universal Pictures

One of the actors from the film recently revealed what the script actually called for at the end of the movie, and you'll be glad that they switched it up...

Robert MacNaughton played Elliot's big brother in the movie and revealed that the scene that causes tears in everyone's eyes almost wasn't the last scene in the movie. He explained that there was supposed to be another scene that would change a lot about how you perceive the end of the movie.

Universal Pictures

"The last scene in the movie wasn’t supposed to be the scene that ends up in the movie," MacNaughton said. "The last scene was going to be all of us playing Dungeons and Dragons again, except this time, Elliott’s the dungeon master. Because he was the one that found ET, he sort of got in with the group."

Universal Pictures

That's not the only thing that changes. In this alternate ending, Elliot is still in contact with E.T! MacNaughton explained, "and so that was supposed to be the final scene, it was in the script and everything, and then they would pan up to the roof and you’d see the communicator and it’s still working — in other words, Elliott is still in touch with E.T."

Universal Pictures

He revealed that they changed their minds after the filming was done. "After they did the score, the music, and they saw what they had with the spaceship taking off and everything... How can you follow that? I mean, it was a wise choice."

Universal Pictures

MacNaughton has retired from acting and now works for the US postal service, but it's crazy that he knows all these secrets about one of the biggest movies in the world.

Are you happy with the ending we got, or would you have rather known that Elliot was still in contact with E.T. after he left?

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