Harrison Ford is returning to the “Indiana Jones” franchise in the upcoming “Dial of Destiny,” marking a return to the character he’s now played for 42 years. It’s been 44 years since Sigourney Weaver first played Ellen Ripley in Ridley Scott’s “Alien,” but don’t expect her to pull a Ford/”Dial of Destiny” and return to the role that made her an action movie icon. In a new interview with Total Film magazine, Weaver said her days as Ripley are over.
“There are all kinds of younger actors taking this kind of role,” Weaver said. “And there was an ‘Alien’ [film] that I really wanted to do with Neill Blomkamp and we didn’t get to do that, but, you know, that ship has sailed. I’m very happy doing what I’m doing. I put in my time in space!”
“District 9” filmmaker Blomkamp scripted and prepped for an “Alien” movie that never got off the ground at 20th Century Fox. The sequel would’ve marked Weaver’s fifth time playing Ripley after “Alien” (1979), “Aliens” (1986), “Alien 3” (1992) and “Alien: Resurrection” (1997). Back in 2015 during the film’s development, Weaver told Variety that it would “break new ground.”
“I can’t think of a better director,” Weaver said at the time about Blomkamp, who directed her in “Chappie.” “He’s a real fan. I think he’ll be true to the world and take it in unexpected directions. It’s got a lot of sinew in it. It will certainly stand up to the others and probably break a lot of new ground as well.”
“Alien 5” never made it into production, but that wasn’t the end of Weaver getting offers to join a new “Alien” movie. Weaver confirmed to Empire magazine in summer 2020 that franchise producer Walter Hill had sent her a 50-page treatment for “a different take on a fifth Ripley film.” Hill served as producer on every “Alien” movie and has a story credit on James Cameron’s “Aliens.”
Weaver did not reveal what was in Hill’s treatment, but she didn’t appear too interested in coming back to the franchise then either. “I don’t know,” she said. “Ridley has gone in a different direction. Maybe Ripley has done her bit. She deserves a rest.”
20th Century Studios is currently in production on a new “Alien” movie with “Evil Dead” director Fede Alvarez. Cailee Spaeny (“Mare of Easttown”) is leading a cast that also includes David Jonsson (“Industry”), Archie Renaux (“Shadow and Bone”), Isabela Merced (“Rosaline”), Spike Fearn (“The Batman”) and Aileen Wu (“Away from Home”). Scott is an executive producer on the film.
While the premise for the yet-to-be-titled new “Alien” movie is under wraps, 20th Century Studios has confirmed the film will follow “a group of young people on a distant world, who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”
