Sigourney Weaver talks why Aliens was her favorite to make of the franchise

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Sigourney Weaver was tasked with revealing what was the most satisfying film of the Alien franchise to make during a recent interview with "Collider" and the actress went with 1986's Aliens, the film that turned Weaver's Ellen Ripley into a true action movie heroine and earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination.

Weaver began playing the character of Ripley in Ridley Scott's Alien in 1979 and has gone on to play the role across three sequels. There is often a debate about which film is the best of the franchise with Alien and Aliens consistently switching off from the top spot with movie fans. Weaver did mention that the choice was difficult for her to make when asked which was her favorite to make but she ultimately went with Aliens because director James Cameron constructed a great story for the character:

"Oh, goodness, that's difficult. The best-constructed story for the character to tell was in Aliens, just because Jim [Cameron] has such an amazing sense of structure of story. To take this character out of hyper-sleep, have no one believe her, have her be exiled into this limbo land where no one believes her and her family's dead. The whole set-up for Ripley in Aliens and then what she ends up doing and what it, finding this new family by the end. The whole structure of that story, to me, was gold. I always felt that I could jump up and down on it. It was such a great, supportive, arc for the character. In that sense, the second one for Ripley is probably the most satisfying."

Aliens took a true detour from the more tension-filled suspense of the first film and turned it into a more action-oriented story. While there are some chills to be had,  the shift in tone is frequently credited for why Aliens proves to be a truly satisfying sequel. It's not a rehash of the first movie and actually gives Ripley significant character growth. She becomes stronger based on her circumstances and her arc makes her arguably one of the best female action heroes to grace the big screen. Aliens was met with universal praise from critics at the time of its release and Weaver's Best Actress Oscar nomination represented a bit of a surprise since performances in science fiction films are rarely recognized.

Weaver suited back up as Ripley for a parody sketch on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert but has not fully played the role since 1997's Alien Resurrection. Weaver has tried to get involved with more Alien projects in the years since, particularly in Neill Blomkamp's Alien film that eventually languished in development hell before becoming a distant memory. It seems like a role that Weaver would jump at the chance to revisit if the project truly spoke to her but the jury is still out of we'll see her as Ripley again in the future. 

Do YOU agree that Aliens is the most satisfying film of the franchise?