Sigourney Weaver Addresses Potential ALIEN Franchise Return After Reading “Extraordinary” New Script
Ripley's time in space might not be over just yet.
As the world of Alien continues to expand with last year's Alien: Romulus, its recently-announced sequel and Noah Hawley's FX show Alien: Earth, fans have returned to the same question time and time again: will Sigourney Weaver, Ellen Ripley herself, return for another installment of the iconic sci-fi horror franchise? Previously probably no, a new appearance from the star at New York Comic Con sparks a glimmer of hope.
At the Alien reunion panel at NYCC moderated by Josh Horowitz, Weaver teased that she has had conversations with producer Walter Hill about returning for a new Alien film, and has even met with Fox and Disney about it:
“Walter Hill is a very good friend of mine, and he wrote 50 pages of where Ripley would be now, and they’re quite extraordinary […] I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but I have had a meeting with Fox or Disney…I’ve never felt the need [to reprise the role].
I was always like, ‘Let her rest, let her recover.’ What Walter has written seems so true to me, as very much about the society that would incarcerate someone who has tried to help mankind, but she’s a problem to them, so she’s sort of tucked away. I think it’s a very strong first 50 pages. I’m thinking about working with Walter to see what the rest of the story would be.”
Should Weaver return to the role of Ripley, it'd be her first direct appearance in the franchise since 1997's Alien Resurrection. As our own Ryan Scott pointed out in August of last year, in a new era where legacy sequels are big business, there is a huge market of those who want to see actors from legendary franchises coming back to join a newer, younger cast that can potentially set the series up to grow beyond what came before. Just take a look at Scream, Halloween, and I Know What You Did Last Summer, to name but a few.
While nothing is set in stone yet, the success of Alien: Earth and the aforementioned (officially becoming the highest-grossing horror film in the IMAX format upon release in August 2024), more movies are pretty much a given at this point. Whether or not we'll see Weaver return remains to be seen; keep your eyes on the stars for updates.
