Posted in: 20th Century Studios, Movies | Tagged: 20th century studios, alien, alien 5, sigourney weaver

Sigourney Weaver Says Her Potential Alien Return Would Look Different

Longtime Alien star Sigourney Weaver shares her thoughts on a possible return to the franchise and the current pitch that has her intrigued.

Even though it technically never really left, the Alien franchise has slipped back into the spotlight. For starters, last year's standalone flick Alien: Romulus scared up a strong box office return, earning about $350.9 million worldwide on an $80 million budget and landing some of the best reviews the series has seen since Aliens. This year, FX's Alien: Earth took the baton on TV, debuting to millions of viewers (and lots of praise) in its first week and quickly becoming a top show on Hulu and Disney+. In fact, an Alien: Romulus follow-up is already in development, and Alien: Earth just locked a second season, so the universe is still expanding across film and television.

Even with all that new blood, a big chunk of the fanbase still circles back to the same wish. At least one more story with Alien icon Ellen Ripley. And over the years, there have been plenty of almosts. The closest was probably Neill Blomkamp's canceled Alien 5, a planned direct sequel to Aliens that would have ignored Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection and brought Ripley and Newt back into the fight.

Now, after almost losing hope, we're being told that a different return is still possible.

Sigourney Weaver on a Possible Alien Return

During an Alien screening and Q&A at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, franchise legend Sigourney Weaver talked about a new treatment from longtime producer and writer Walter Hill. She explains, "Walter Hill has written about 50 pages. Maybe, by now, he's written more about where Ripley might be now. And although I've never particularly wanted to go back to the series, there's something about her experience being sidelined now, probably by this society, by this company, by this world, and being probably around 200 years old, but still Ripley, and you know, presumably these problems still out there. So I'm going to see what happens with Walter's script. It would not be like what we've seen tonight [with the first film]. It would not be running around through airshafts. It would be a very different kind of story."

For years, Weaver insisted Ripley should be allowed to rest. Now she is openly curious about a version of the character who is older, sidelined, and angry at the systems that used and discarded her. And in a moment when Alien is thriving again with new characters and timelines, the idea of a late-period, very different Ripley story sitting alongside other hit side stories feels like exactly the kind of possibility fans have been waiting to hear her acknowledge.

Whether Hill's pages ever turn into a movie is still a big unknown for now, but for the first time in a long while, Ripley's return does not feel impossible either.

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