Credit: Universal Pictures
E.T. Has An Actual First Name And Nearly Everyone Missed It
Fans have been left in shock after discovering E.T.’s real name.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is widely considered one of the most famous sci-fi films of all time.
At the time of its release in 1982, it became the highest-grossing movie of all time, making an estimated $619 million worldwide.
The Steven Spielberg movie is a family classic.
It has a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, achieving an impressive 99% on the Tomatometer and, even over 40 years later, many still hail the hit film as one of the best movies ever made.
The film’s plot follows an alien who gets stranded on Earth and is discovered and then befriended by a boy named Elliot.
The little boy introduces the extraterrestrial to his siblings, and they all work together to keep his existence a secret.
Elliot gives the alien the name ‘E.T.,’ standing, of course, for extraterrestrial, and E.T. himself begins to adopt the name, hence the iconic line: “E.T. phone home.”
But it turns out that the extraterrestrial does actually have a real name – it turns out, we all just missed it.
The E.T. sequel that never happened
Spielberg is considered one of the best directors in history.
His films are woven into American culture, and seven of his films have been inducted into the Library of Congress as ‘culturally, historically or aesthetically significant,’ as per Forbes.
The three-time Oscar-winning director revealed that after the success of the original sci-fi film, there were plans to make a second: E.T. II: Nocturnal Fears.
Genius has shared the nine-page story treatment Spielberg and E.T.’s writer Melissa Mathison put together to pitch a sequel to the original blockbuster.
The film would follow a spaceship in which ‘the aliens onboard are EVIL. They have landed on Earth in response to distress signals designating its present coordinates. These aliens are searching for a stranded extraterrestrial.’
The new set of aliens coming to Earth were going to be just as dangerous as everyone initially believed E.T. to be.
The film, however, was never put into production.
Why the E.T. sequel never happened
Spielberg gave his reasoning: “Sequels can be very dangerous because they compromise your truth as an artist. I think a sequel to E.T. would do nothing but rob the original of its virginity. People only remember the latest episode, while the pilot tarnishes.”
As the film is loved by so many – it is the filmmaker’s second-highest-grossing movie – understandably, he wouldn’t want to tarnish the reputation of such a highly respected film by gambling with a sequel.
Yet the potential for a possible second movie has not been the biggest shock E.T. fans have faced.
The story treatment revealed the beloved alien’s real name.
E.T. actually has a first name…
After finding out E.T.’s real name, One person wrote: “I thought his name was Extraterrestrial.”
Another added: “Does it say it in the movie? I don’t remember?”
“Extraterrestrial was his name I thought my whole life?” a third commented.
In the pitch for a sequel, we discover that E.T.’s real name was in fact Zrek.
The original film never states that Zrek is his real name, and even when the children start calling him E.T., he doesn’t share that he actually already has a name.
The beloved alien is referred to as Zrek multiple times in the story treatment, but would he still be such an iconic character if we knew his real name?
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