‘Alien 5’: Producer Walter Hill Confirms A New Treatment Featuring Ripley Was Completed In March

The ‘Alien’ franchise is at a crossroads, yet again. Every so often, the sci-fi franchise has to figure out the proper way to move forward. In the past, that has included ill-conceived/badly-executed sequels (‘Alien: Resurrection’), spin-offs (‘Alien vs. Predator’), and most recently, prequels (‘Prometheus’ & ‘Covenant’). While some of those do find momentary success, the franchise has sputtered for decades. Now, do producers continue with Ridley Scott’s prequels or move ahead with a new sequel? Walter Hill clearly sits in the latter camp.

The ‘Alien’ franchise producer is apparently pushing for Sigourney Weaver to return in a new sequel. And according to a new interview with SYFY Wire (via Ronin), the producer has already completed a hefty treatment for the new film and has already presented it to Sigourney Weaver, who talked about this previously.

READ MORE: Sigourney Weaver Isn’t Keen On Returning To ‘Alien’ Franchise & Thinks Ripley “Deserves A Rest”

“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,” Hill said.

According to the report, Hill’s most recent treatment for ‘Alien 5’ is co-written by producer David Giler and is dated March of this year. So, again, this isn’t a rehash of Neill Blomkamp’s failed vision. This is a new idea to continue the ‘Alien’ franchise by bringing back Ripley.

And if this is all giving you “Terminator: Dark Fate” vibes, that’s understandable. Last year saw James Cameron and director Tim Miller attempt to reboot/revive the ‘Terminator’ franchise by throwing away what didn’t work and starting “fresh” with Linda Hamilton returning as an older Sarah Connor, after departing the franchise decades prior. Let’s just hope that if this ‘Alien 5’ thing happens, the end result will be better, as ‘Dark Fate’ might serve as the final nail in the ‘Terminator’ coffin.

READ MORE: Ridley Scott Thinks The ‘Alien’ Franchise Is Ready To “Re-Evolve” & Has “A Lot Of Mileage” Left In It

Of course, there’s one major hurdle standing in the way of ‘Alien 5’ happening—Weaver herself. The actress has recently gone on record explaining why she’s reluctant to revisit the sci-fi franchise. But then again, when you have a major studio with its eyes on a franchise film, actors can find themselves wooed back with a big enough payday. So, who knows?

As of now, we don’t know what the future holds for the ‘Alien’ franchise. Ridley Scott is still content working on his prequel series, with constant chatter about a ‘Covenant’ follow-up. But now we have talk of a true sequel. So, maybe we might see the further adventures of Ripley? Stranger things have happened.