Sigourney Weaver Ready To Make An 'Alien' Franchise Return
Image Source: Wallpapers Den
The science-fiction/horror film Alien (1979) helped launch the career of actress Sigourney Weaver, as well as establish the popularity of her character, Ellen Ripley, who was introduced in that film and wound up being the sole survivor of a dangerous alien discovered on an uncharted and barren world. The film also established the Alien franchise, which has, to date, spanned four movies, three “prequel” films, numerous books and comics, videogames, a crossover franchise (Aliens vs. Predator), and, more recently, a television series.
28 years later, at a New York Comic Con panel hosted by Josh Horowitz of the Happy Sad Confused podcast this past Friday, Weaver expressed to the participants of that panel that she may be ready to return to the franchise. After reviewing 50 pages of a treatment of where her famous character, Ripley, might be and what she might be doing right now, written by producer Walter Hill, Weaver expressed interest in seeing what more Hill might be able to develop from his treatment and revealed that she has already had a meeting with Disney or Fox.
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Image Source: The Hollywood Reporter
However, she is not certain how things might develop from there:
“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.”
Weaver starred in the first four films in the Alien franchise; however, her character sacrificed herself at the end of Alien 3 (1992) in order to prevent the unscrupulous mega-corporation, Weyland-Yutani, from getting their hands on a Xenomorph Queen growing inside of her. However, the franchise did not end there. In the fourth film, Alien: Resurrection (1997), set centuries after the events of Alien 3, Ripley, once again portrayed by Weaver, is cloned by military scientists to help them obtain a coveted Xenomorph Queen. She is once again forced into combat, along with a small band of mercenaries, with her longtime Xenomorph foes onboard a military research vessel headed back to Earth.
Alien Resurrection was the final official appearance of Ellen Ripley. All of the more recent franchise-related films, Prometheus (2012), Alien: Covenant (2017), Alien: Romulus (2024), as well as the recent television series, Alien: Earth (2025), are all set before or, in the case of Alien Romulus, in between the earlier films in the franchise. Weaver did not reveal any details about what is in Hill’s recent treatment about Ripley and what he thinks ultimately happened to her; however, he is not the first one to try to create alternate versions of what eventually became Alien 3, where her character survived. In fact, there have been no less than eight alternative Alien 3 stories written, including one drafted by Neil Blomkamp years after the film’s release, that would have picked up from the end of Aliens (1986) and ignored the last two films in the main franchise entirely.
How Weaver might return to the franchise is unknown at this time. A sequel to Alien Romulus is currently in pre-production (no expected release date yet), but virtually no details about the film have currently made available about the film other than it will focus on the two surviving characters of the first film. In the meantime, however, Weaver is set to join the Star Wars franchise, with a role in the upcoming film, The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026).
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Source(s): Collider, Empire Online
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