Did Sigourney Weaver Just Reveal A Major Ellen Ripley Plot Twist?

Few are more excited for Neill Blomkamp’s Aliens sequel to go into full production mode than the film’s star Sigourney Weaver, and the actress, who will once again be reprising her character Ellen Ripley, is as eager to talk about the film as the fans are to hear about it. A recent appearance made by Weaver gave the Aliens actress an opportunity to share her thoughts on the upcoming sequel, but she may have shocked fans with the suggestion that Ripley may not come out of this one unscathed.

Aliens Star Sigourney Weaver Shares The Fans’ Frustrations

Neill Blomkamp (District 9) was all set to bring his new Aliens sequel into production, when Ridley Scott asked that he wait while he worked on his Prometheus prequels in an endeavor to tie the new franchise together with the Aliens story arc. While this has created a disruption for everyone on Blomkamp’s project, Entertainment Weekly reports that the film’s biggest star is just as invested in the film as ever. Sigourney proves as personable as she has always been, eager to talk about the Aliens sequel and about reprising the Ellen Ripley character.

“Well, we have a great script. Fox asked us to delay so Ridley Scott could shoot his [second] Prometheus movie. That was too bad because we would have already done it by now,” says Weaver, sharing the fans’ frustrations in having to wait on Scott’s prequels.

In the meantime, Sigourney reveals that even Neill has moved on to other projects. While Weaver is currently involved with obligations on James Cameron’s Avatar sequels, Blomkamp is working on The Gone World, which means the Aliens sequel will have to wait for everyone to be available again. With any luck, Scott’s prequels will be finished shooting just as the principal talents become available to start work on Blomkamp’s Aliens sequel once again. If not, the entire Aliens/Prometheus franchise may flounder and fail.

Aliens Star Sigourney Weaver Opens Up On Becoming Ellen Ripley Again

On to juicier teasers for the Alien sequel, Nerdist reports that Sigourney Weaver has given the kind of insight into the character of Ellen Ripley that could potentially mean a catastrophic end to her existence. Or it could simply mean Weaver wants to see Ripley ride off into the proverbial sunset, giving the Aliens character a solid sense of closure for fans.

“It’s a great story and it’s satisfying to me to give this woman an ending,” says Sigourney.

In talking about the film, Sigourney says the script is fascinating in the way it explores the aliens as a species and provides a story arc for exploring the creatures’ motivations in everything they have done throughout the franchise. Weaver reveals that the race of aliens haven’t just been acting on blind, savage instinct, but have had an intelligent agenda.

“The script itself has so much in it that’s so original, but also really satisfies the, I would say, the primal needs of the aliens,” Weaver says. “It’s a tribute to all of the great work that the other directors have done, in a way, but goes in a completely new direction. I hope we’ll do it.”

Ms. Weaver also shared the news that she and Mr. Blomkamp have completed another new project together and, although she couldn’t divulge details, it seems likely that it would be another science fiction endeavor.

“We’ve just finished something else together that I can’t talk about, but you know, I hope so,” Sigourney says. “But you never know in this crazy business.

As for the Aliens sequel, there’s no set plan for when exactly they might head into production and even Ms. Weaver herself seemed to imply that a possibility exists that the film may never get made. Her hope, of course, is that they will bring the Aliens sequel into production within the next year or two, but Sigourney couldn’t even commit to that.

“He and I both have these other commitments that are finally upon us, and so we’ve got to switch gears and concentrate on that,” said Sigourney Weaver. “But it will be worth the wait when we finally get to it.”

[Image by Rob Kim/Getty Images]