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Sigourney Weaver has recently suggested the stalled Aliens sequel might be her last time playing Ellen Ripley. The sequel to the 1986 Aliens film plans to re-write Ripley’s past, replacing Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. It will be set after the events of Aliens, but take the film in a different direction to Alien 3. Weaver told Entertainment Weekly:
“It’s just as if the path forks and one direction goes off to three and four [Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection] and another direction goes off to Neill [Blomkamp]’s movie… It’s just more, I would say, following Jim Cameron’s story about these characters, rather than just ending up in this sort of monastery in space, which was [Alien 3 screenwriter] Vincent Ward’s idea… Each director kind of wanted to create a whole new set of circumstances. In this case, it picks up, it follows directly the circumstances of Jim Cameron’s Aliens.”
“It’s a great story and it’s satisfying to me to give this woman an ending.”
We can only hope that by “ending,” Weaver means a happy ending, and not the type brought on by a Xenomorph.
Whilst Blomkamp clearly has big plans for the sequel, the project is currently on-hold. 20th Century Fox decided to pause production whilst Ridley Scott works on Alien: Covenant, the upcoming Prometheus sequel. This delay means that due to Weaver’s and Blomkamp’s busy schedules, we can’t be sure of when the Aliens sequel will start shooting. Weaver said:
“Well, we have a great script. Fox asked us to delay so Ridley Scott could shoot his [second] Prometheus movie. That was too bad because we would have already done it by now.”
“Now that we’re waiting [for Alien: Covenant to finish production], I have a couple of Avatars to do and Neill has The Gone World… So we’ll have to see what happens when we get back, when those projects are over.”
While it could be a few years before we see Weaver reprise the role of Ellen Ripley onscreen, Weaver is optimistic about the film. “It will be worth the wait when we finally get to it,” she said.
Sigourney Weaver will join Gale Anne Hurd, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Paul Reiser, Michael Bien, and Carrie Henn at a special Aliens 30th anniversary panel at this year’s San Diego Comic Con.
Image: 20th Century Fox
