Nearly three decades after last portraying Lt. Ellen Ripley, Sigourney Weaver has revealed that she’s considering returning to the Alien franchise.
The three-time Oscar nominee, who first brought the iconic character to life in Alien (1979), shared during New York Comic Con that she recently read script pages that reignited her interest in the role.
You know, [franchise producer] Walter Hill is a very good friend of mine and he wrote 50 pages of where Ripley would be now and they are quite extraordinary.
Weaver said, according to People.
Weaver added that she has already met with Disney formerly Fox about the potential project.
So, I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but I have had a meeting with Fox, Disney or whoever it is now. I have never felt the need [to reprise the role]. I was always like ‘let her rest, let her recover.’ But what Walter has written is, first of all, 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.
she said.
Walter Hill, who has been involved with the Alien franchise since its 1979 debut and co-wrote Alien 3 (1992), is behind the new script that has caught Weaver’s attention.
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 said of Hill’s draft.
The actress teased that this potential installment would differ from the earlier action-heavy entries.
It would not be running around airshafts, it would be a very different kind of Alien. Scary, of course, the Alien does show up, inevitable. But I love what he’s done with the character. He really gets her strength and her anger and her humor, and it’s very hard to write, and surprisingly hard to write Ripley.
Weaver’s comments mark a change in stance from her 2023 remarks, when she declared that her time as Ripley was over following the cancellation of Neill Blomkamp’s planned Alien film. “That ship has sailed,” she said at the time. “I put in my time in space!”
Weaver portrayed Ripley in Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), and Alien Resurrection (1997). Last year’s Alien: Romulus was set between the events of the first two films, continuing the franchise’s enduring legacy.
Source: Deadline
