In a recent interview veteran actress Sigourney Weaver says she would return as Ripley in the Alien franchise, if she gets a good script. However, I guess that may be where the problem arises. A good script for an Alien movie, easy. A good script for an Alien movie that brings back Ripley, much trickier.
Here is what Weaver told Deadline about coming back to the franchise which launched her super stardom.
“I feel like she’s never far away from me, but on the other hand I have yet to read a script that said “you have got to do this.” So for me, she is in this other dimension, safe from the Alien for the time being. I don’t really think about it, but you know, it’s not completely impossible, and certainly a lot of good filmmakers are inspired by the material.”
“How much does the public really need or want another Ripley movie? I don’t really sit around and think about it, but if it came up, I would consider it. It has come up a bunch of times, but I’m also busy doing other things. Ripley has earned her rest.”
The problem I think is timeline.
Can Ripley Return?
Ripley is dead, or her original version is dead if all the films are canon. Between Alien and Aliens, which is where latest film Romulus is set, Ripley is in a hypersleep which lasts for 57 years.
The only way to effectively tell a Ripley story is to set it post-Resurrection, and that wasn’t the best movie. However, that would not really be Ellen Ripley would it, it would the Xeno/Ripley hybrid. So the question is, would we fans want to see that version of Ripley back. Where could that story go when pretty much every trace of the Xeno’s is gone now outside her own blood… again.
Then again, maybe that’s what the series needs, a jump forward to new stories. There’s only so many stories you can tell in between Alien and Aliens. We’ve had two decent ones so far in the Alien: Isolation video game and new movie Romulus. Romulus director Fede Alvarez seems to have plans for a sequel, but at some point you have to ask questions.
RELATED: Alien: Romulus Rotten Tomatoes Score Indicates Best In Franchise Since Aliens
How does Weyland Yutani keeps getting hold of Alien’s when by the time of Aliens they have no record of anything odd about LV-426? Romulus uses a rather inventive way of doing this by having WY retrieve the Xeno ejected from the Nostromo at the end of Alien and reverse engineer and create Facehuggers from it’s DNA. Isolation had it be a random infection from another mining vessel that visited the original following the Nostromo’s tail.
What’s next though? Someone in the future retrieved the Xeno queen ejected at the end of Aliens? Surely what the franchise needs is another site of Xeno eggs, or an overrun planet somewhere else to take it forward into new territory. The Darkhorse comics of an Earth overrun and Ripley trying to save it were awesome. So maybe going forward instead of back for the first time since Resurrection would be a good thing for Alien?
What do you think of her comments as Sigourney Weaver says she would return as Ripley in the Alien franchise, if she gets a good script? Thoughts below as always.
FOR FANBOYS, BY FANBOYS
Have you checked out LRM Online’s official podcasts and videos on The Genreverse Podcast Network? Available on YouTube and all your favorite podcast apps, This multimedia empire includes The Daily CoG, Breaking Geek Radio: The Podcast, GeekScholars Movie News, Anime-Versal Review Podcast, and our Star Wars dedicated podcast The Cantina. Check it out by listening on all your favorite podcast apps, or watching on YouTube!
Subscribe on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | Stitcher | Google Play
