Sigourney Weaver discusses Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5 plans

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Last night, ALIEN franchise heroine Sigourney Weaver was in attendance for a big screen showing of ALIENS at New York City’s Town Hall, and after the film she did a Q&A that our own Eric Walkuski was there to witness. The subject of Neill Blomkamp’s ALIEN 5, which is currently on hold while Ridley Scott makes his PROMETHEUS sequel ALIEN: COVENANT, inevitably came up, and while Weaver didn’t drop any bombshells about this project that fans are desperately hoping will come to fruition sooner than later, she did have some interesting things to say about Blomkamp’s vision for the sequel.

Weaver is expected to be joined in ALIEN 5 by Michael Biehn, reprising the role of Hicks from ALIENS. Weaver was talking about how great the Hicks character was when she referenced Blomkamp’s plans for the pair: 

I think the part of Hicks is just a beautifully written part. Just this very cool- great heart and strength and intelligence. In Neill Blomkamp’s sequel, you get to see a lot more of them together. [Meaning Ripley and Hicks] Is that something you guys would like to see? [crowd erupts in applause] It will happen, we have to wait until after Prometheus 2, I think… I certainly wish all the best for Prometheus 2, or whatever it’s being called.

Later Weaver discussed why Blomkamp’s story is so appealing to her, and the fact that it seems to be an alternate sequel to ALIENS rather than a follow-up to the events of ALIEN 3 and ALIEN: RESURRECTION.

It’s very satisfying. I felt that we left the character after 4, it was all going to end up on Earth and I didn’t want to end up on Earth. It’s so mundane to me compared to the beauty of space. We kind of just left the whole story hanging and it always felt a little incomplete to me. So when Neill Blomkamp started to talk to me about a sequel to [Aliens], I thought, “Gosh, that would be so great to know that Ripley has a resting place eventually.” Not that the other two didn’t happen. The filmmaker has to be inspired by what he’s inspired by, and what he grew up with, and I think wore the tapes out of, were Alien 1 and 2 in South Africa. So we’ll see what happens.

Weaver co-starred in Blomkamp’s film CHAPPIE, and during the Q&A she revealed that she and the director recently worked together on something new and “so awesome” in South Africa. No details were given, so it will be interesting to find out what that was.

Ridley Scott’s ALIEN: COVENANT is set for release on August 4, 2017. Fingers crossed that Blomkamp’s ALIEN 5 will head into production soon after.