Sigourney Weaver Reveals Whether Or Not She'll Star In Another 'Alien' Movie

Sigourney Weaver has shut down any hopes of fans seeing her star as Ellen Ripley again in the "Alien" franchise. The actress played the character across four installments of the film and garnered critical acclaim for her performance.

Explaining why she no longer wishes to play the role, Weaver shared that the "ship has sailed," adding that she has "put in her time in space." In 2021, she revealed that the sequel "Aliens" was the "most satisfying" saga for her character.

Read below for more details.

In an interview with Total Film magazine (via Game Rader,) Weaver revealed that she has no plans to reprise her character, Ripley, in "Alien" even if the opportunity arises in the nearest future.

"There are all kinds of younger actors taking this kind of role," she said, per Insider. "And there was an 'Alien' 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."

The actress garnered much critical acclaim for the part in the debut installment, where she and the crew members of her ship Nostromo were hunted by a monstrous extraterrestrial known as the Xenomorph.

Following the success of the movie, Weaver was brought back to reprise her character in three more installments, "Aliens" (1986), "Alien 3" (1992), and "Alien Resurrection" (1997).

The collection of films has since turned into a cult classic, mainly due to its iconic female character, Ripley.

On this, Weaver gave kudos to original "Alien" director Ridley Scott and writer Dan O'Bannon for making the character into something that deviated from the conventional feminine ones at the time.

She said, "They made Ripley a woman, without making her this helpless creature. Because I think I was very lucky. These were men who were creating this woman character, but they liked and respected strong women."

Unsurprisingly, the "Alien" franchise spawned a media franchise of movies, books, video games, and toys. It also led to a crossover with the Predator franchise, which led to the release of "Alien vs. Predator," "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem," and "Alien: Covenant."

Weaver was meant to star in a fifth installment of the "Alien" franchise, which was allegedly in the works at some point, and was also set to see another co-star Michael Biehn return.

However, the movie never got greenlighted for production despite the expectations from fans. In 2017, Ridley Scott, who directed the first installment, confirmed that Fox had canceled producing more films for the franchise.

"There was never a script. It was an idea that evolved from, I believe, a 10-page pitch, and I was meant to be the producer on that. And it didn't evolve," the director told AlloCiné in an interview.

He continued, "Fox decided that they didn't want to do it, and that was it."

Although fans will no longer get to see Weaver play Ripley again, the actress has fond memories from her time on set. In 2021, she revealed that out of all the movies in the series, the sequel "Aliens" directed by James Cameron, was the most fulfilling one for her character.

"The best-constructed story for the character to tell was in 'Aliens,' just because [Cameron] has such an amazing sense of structure of story," the actress said, recalling the film's narrative, per IndieWire.

"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… finding this new family by the end. The whole structure of that story, to me, was gold."