Say goodbye to Alien 5 or any other projects that might continue Ellen Ripley’s story: Sigourney Weaver will not be back.
It appears that Sigourney Weaver, last surviving member of the pre-Disney Alien films with a number on the end, may have signed off for the final time. When Disney’s 20th Century Studios recently revived the Predator universe with Prey, hopes were boosted for some that the studio might return to the mainline Alien story, perhaps in the set-for-streaming project that was announced back in March. The recently-released Prey is undoubtedly set within the Predator chronology and with many a fan and creator pushing for Weaver’s Ellen Ripley to get another shot at her eternal nemesis, some wondered if it might yet happen at some point in the Alien franchise.
Unfortunately, that looks not to be the case. Several attempts have been made to get Alien 5 off the ground (something we wrote about here) with District 9 director, Neill Blomkamp, just one creator desperate to tell the next chapter of Ripley’s story. Blomkamp’s efforts were ultimately in vain and now series producer Walter Hill has stepped up to say that Disney has rebuffed his attempts to bring the character (and the talents of Weaver) back to the series.
Hill spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, saying “we took a shot at that a couple of years back with Sigourney. But that was back when Aliens was still at Fox. The people at Disney, who now control Aliens, have expressed no interest in going down that road. I had an idea for a good story with the Ripley character and Sigourney. But I do hope to see her in Venice.”
So it seems that Hill has had the chance to pitch Disney an Aliens project featuring Weaver, but at the moment the company simply isn’t interested.
There are multiple Aliens projects moving forwards, including the aforementioned film and Noah Hawley’s series which is set to be situated largely on Earth. As it stands though, Ripley’s story is set to remain in hypersleep, perhaps for good. What are your thoughts on this? Would you like to see Weaver return or should the series move in an entirely new direction? Let us know in the comments below.
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