It’s been a whole 17 years since Alien Resurrection, the last installment of the iconic Alien film franchise, entered theaters to mixed reviews and found a cloned version of hero Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) fighting predatorial aliens once again. Fans of that series have largely moved on and accepted that they’ll never see another installment (the awful Alien vs. Predator spinoffs certainly do not count, and neither does the loosely connected Prometheus). However, Weaver was recently quoted at the Los Angeles Times Hero Complex Film Festival saying some things which suggest she’s not entirely opposed to reprising the role in a potential Alien 5, if asked to.
Speaking about Ripley’s final fate at the end of Alien Resurrection, she said:
Had we done a fifth one, I don’t doubt that her humanity would have prevailed.… I do feel like there is more story to tell.
Weaver also acknowledged her huge fanbase, stating:
I feel a longing from fans for the story to be finished. I could imagine a situation where we finish telling the story.
So, though those two quotes seem largely like wishful thinking on Weaver’s part, another direct Alien installment is a very interesting idea, especially now that the actress is so much noticeably older. It would be difficult to imagine the franchise being successfully revived with Weaver’s Ripley passing the torch to a younger actress, but seeing Weaver back in action would be thrilling all the same.
We know that a sequel to Prometheus is in the works, but that’s likely going to drift even further away from the main Alien franchise, and it would be shocking if Weaver was involved with it in any way. Whether there’s still a large enough fan appetite for more Ripley is unclear, but Weaver seems game, and that could be enough to get studio execs moving on an Alien 5. The biggest question is, do we even want one?