A decade ago, Neill Blomkamp attempted to bring Sigourney Weaver back as Alien franchise heroine Ripley in an Alien 5 that would have been a follow-up to Aliens, setting Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection aside… but that project got scrapped while Ridley Scott worked on his divisive Alien: Covenant. Five years ago, franchise producer Walter Hill revealed that he and fellow producer David Giler had written a fifty page treatment for a new sequel that would star Weaver as Ripley. At the time, Weaver wasn’t sure if the idea would move forward, or even if it should. (She told Empire Magazine, “Maybe Ripley has done her bit. She deserves a rest.”) But now, during an appearance at New York Comic Con, she has confirmed that she likes those fifty pages and has had a meeting with the studio to discuss the project!
Weaver told fans at NYCC (with thanks to Screen Rant for the transcription), “It’s a very strong first 50 pages. I was always like, ‘Let (Ripley) rest, let her recover.’ But what Walter has written first of all seems so true to me. It’s about a society who would incarcerate someone who’s tried to help mankind but she’s a problem for them… I don’t know if it’s gonna happen but I have had a meeting with Fox, or Disney or whoever it is now.“
Walter Hill, the director of such awesome films as The Warriors, 48 Hrs., and Streets of Fire, among others, has been involved with the Alien franchise since the beginning. He has gotten a producer credit on every installment in the franchise, received a story credit on Aliens, and worked on the screenplay for Alien 3 (same for Giler)… and I’ve always wondered why Hill never decided to direct one of these films himself. It would have been very cool to see a Hill-directed Alien at some point. Well, he’s 83 and Ridley Scott is still going strong at 87, so maybe we still can get a Hill-directed Alien.
Back in 2022, Hill was quoted as saying that Disney had no interest in pursuing his Alien sequel idea. But if Weaver has had a meeting with them since, maybe they’re reconsidering. Hill and Giler’s Brandywine production company showed Syfy Wire the cover page of the treatment, complete with quotes and taglines, some years back. On the cover page, the classic Alien tagline “In space no one can hear you scream” has been extended to include the line “In space no one can hear you dream.” That’s followed by the Edgar Allan Poe quote “All that we see or seem / Is but a dream within a dream,” and finally William Tecumseh Sherman’s line “War is hell.”
Plot details were not revealed, but when addressing Weaver’s uncertainty about bringin Ripley back at time, Hill said, “Sigourney, as she has from the very beginning, is being too modest about her proven ability to pull off the idea — which is to tell a story that scares the pants off your date, kicks the ass of a new Xenomorph, and conducts a meditation on both the universe of the Alien franchise and the destiny of the character of Lt. Ellen Ripley.“
Would you like to see Sigourney Weaver come back as Ripley in a new Alien sequel written by Walter Hill and David Giler? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
