Eariler this month “Alien” franchise star Sigourney Weaver attended a screening of the original 1979 pic and participated in a Q&A at A Career Masterclass panel at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, France, where the actress dished a little why she thinks Neill Blomkamp iteration of “Alien 5” fizzled out because of Ridley Scott (who was producing and had creative control of franchise via Scott Free), and briefly hinted that the Walter Hill (longtime franchise screenwriter and producer) 50-page script treatment would be a direct follow-up to the 1997 film “Alien Resurrection.”
“Yes. Well, I think like many of us, I was a big admirer of Neill. His movie was so striking, and I worked with him on a movie called [“Chappie“]. And I loved working with Neil, and he had this idea of bringing Ripley and Newt back. It was a wonderful script, and unfortunately, it was at that point I think that Ridley Scott decided to be very possessive about the series and really drilled down on his prequels. And so I think it was a disaster for that project. We were never able to… I think Neil, in fact, just gave up, and he’s so talented. I wish him all the best,” Weaver told the panel of why she believes the fifth installment wasn’t made (via AVPGalaxy).
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What ultimately happened is that Scott soured on Blomkamp’s “Alien 5” (Scott and James Cameron once tried to make their own version that the studio pivoted on for “Alien vs. Predator“) leading him to push forward with his own film “Alien: Covenant” (Scott had teased in behind-the-scenes footage, he was planning on making many more prequel installments with his “Covenant” screenwriters, which never materialized).
Weaver, echoing a similar narrative expressed by Blomkamp himself when The Playlist previously interviewed the filmmaker about how “Alien 5” fell apart, as the director suggested that Scott didn’t think he was capable of handling the project. “At the end of the day, even though Ridley Scott is producing it, he brought that to the world, so if he changes his mind or if there is a director on it he doesn’t want, whatever it may be, it’s his. I understand that it makes logical sense to me,” Blomkamp told us back in 2021.
“Covenant” ended on a cliffhanger with Michael Fassbender‘s David in full control of the ship housing a collection of human colonists that the evil synth could further experiment on, as Katherine Waterston‘s Daniels was placed back into cryo-sleep. Audiences never really got to see what the next chapter of that story would be, despite Scott having indicated an openness to make a third David film over the years in the wake of the big merger with Disney.
Weaver briefly mentioned Hill’s “Alien 5” treatment, which she teased would be a direct follow-up to “Resurrection” as Ellen Ripley would be around 200 years old (although, now a clone with hybrid DNA of both human and Xenomorph).
“Actually, Walter Hill has written about 50 pages. Maybe, by now, he’s written more about where Ripley might be now. And although I’ve never particularly wanted to go back to the series, there’s something about her experience being sidelined now, probably by this society, by this company, by this world, and being probably around 200 years old, but still Ripley, and you know, presumably these problems still out there. So I’m going to see what happens with Walter’s script. It would not be like what we’ve seen tonight. It would not be running around through airshafts. It would be a very different kind of story.”
She also shared her thoughts on the recent “Alien: Earth” series (after meeting up with the cast in NYC in a neat viral moment), “I loved ‘Alien: Earth.’ I thought it was remarkable. So interesting, terrifying about our world, and yet you could understand…You can imagine a world where each tech bro owns a planet. You know, it’s not that far from where America is now. So, I’m glad to see that Alien has legs, as they say, in the business. And I think it’s a very interesting time for the series.” While not confirmed, we are expecting an announcement concerning a second season for “Alien: Earth,” given the streaming show’s popularity.
You can view that full exchange with Weaver below, thanks to Mulderville for capturing and uploading the panel chat.
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