In a surprising bit of news, Sigourney Weaver revealed that she recently received a 50-page treatment for a fifth Alien movie. However, the actress wasn’t exactly thrilled by what she saw, and she seems to be signaling that her days as badass heroine Ellen Ripley are probably over.
In an interview with Empire that looks back at the iconic alien-fighting role, Weaver shares her opinion that it might time to put Ripley to bed. This comes after reading a brand new script from Alien producer Walter Hill, which clearly didn’t light the actress’ world on fire:
Weaver revealed that she received a 50-page treatment from Alien franchise producer Walter Hill around a year and a half ago for a different take on a fifth Ripley film, which came about in the aftermath of Blomkamp’s project falling through – though she’s ultimately not sure the future of Alien rests in the revival of that legendary character. “I don’t know,” she said. “Ridley has gone in a different direction. Maybe Ripley has done her bit. She deserves a rest.”
In Weaver’s defense, she was very much invested in making District 9 director Neill Blomkamp’s fifth Alien movie happen. That film would’ve ignored the events of Alien 3 and featured Ripley and Michael Biehn’s Hicks battling the xenomorphs in a heavily populated colony. Unfortunately, Ridley Scott used his clout to delay the film so that the studio could focus on Alien: Covenant, and then Blomkamp’s vision never saw the light of day much to Weaver’s frustration.
Judging by her reaction to the latest script, it sounds like Weaver’s days as Ripley might be officially over. But on a brighter note, Alien fans have been curious to see what would happen to the franchise now that Disney owns it after purchasing Fox, and it sounds like attempts are being made to churn out a new film. Whether or not this means Scott might actually get to make his sequel to Alien: Covenant remains to be seen.
(Via Empire)