Sigourney Weaver’s ‘Alien’ Return Would Be the Worst Thing for the Series

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Sigourney Weaver surprised fans at New York Comic-Con 2025 with exciting news about the future of the *Alien* franchise. Producer Walter Hill has a script that could bring back Weaver’s famous character, Ellen Ripley, and Weaver has already discussed the possibility with Disney and 20th Century Studios. Ripley remains Weaver’s most well-known role, and despite last playing her 28 years ago in *Alien Resurrection*, there’s still strong interest in continuing her story.

Ten years ago, seeing Sigourney Weaver back in an *Alien* movie would have been great news. However, with the recent success of *Alien: Romulus* and *Alien: Earth* in introducing new characters, and with audiences starting to tire of sequels that rely too much on the past, Weaver’s return feels more draining than thrilling. Ellen Ripley is an iconic character, and Sigourney Weaver is a fantastic actress, but the *Alien* franchise needs to move forward and leave Ripley behind.

Sigourney Weaver’s Return After ‘Aliens’ Was the Franchise’s Original Sin


20th Century Fox

During the production of *Alien 3*, 20th Century Fox’s chairman, Joe Roth, emphasized that Sigourney Weaver was essential to the *Alien* series. This led to her return in both *Alien 3* and *Alien Resurrection*, even though her character’s story felt complete after *Aliens*. However, bringing Ripley back was a misstep; the franchise would have been better off leaving her story concluded after *Aliens*. Reviving Weaver’s iconic role after *Aliens* was a fundamental error that the series is only now correcting.

With *Aliens*, Ripley’s story reached a satisfying conclusion. It completed the journey she began in *Alien* and ended on a hopeful note, with her defeating the creatures that haunted her and finding a new sense of family. Her narrative felt complete, making a sequel focused on a new character facing the Xenomorph a logical next step. However, 20th Century Fox wasn’t confident the Xenomorph could carry a franchise like the leads in other horror series. They kept trying to bring Ripley back into the story, even though later scripts struggled to convincingly explain why she would be involved.

The third *Alien* film immediately negates the positive ending of *Aliens*. To explain why Ripley is back, despite seven years passing between films, *Alien 3* abruptly kills off Newt and Hicks without showing it on screen. This felt unnecessarily harsh, especially since the film could have focused on a new character. Then, after killing Ripley in *Alien 3*, *Alien Resurrection* brings her back through cloning, set 200 years later. The question remains: why did the story *need* to center around a cloned Ripley? Why did either sequel need to feature her at all? Ultimately, the biggest problems with both *Alien 3* and *Alien Resurrection* stem from the decision to keep Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, rather than introducing new characters – a direction the franchise has recently taken with considerable success.

Legacy Sequels Are Becoming Tiresome


Universal Pictures

One movie trend that feels overdone recently is the “legacy sequel.” While remakes were popular in the 2000s and early 2010s, we’ve seen a surge of sequels that bring back beloved characters from older films and continue their stories. Though films like *Tron: Legacy* (2010) and *The Muppets* (2011) hinted at this approach, the trend truly took off in 2015 with releases like *Jurassic World*, *Terminator Genisys*, *Creed*, and *Star Wars: The Force Awakens*.

Over the past decade, we’ve seen a constant stream of sequels that bring back actors from older films. *Halloween* featured Jamie Lee Curtis, *Terminator: Dark Fate* brought back Linda Hamilton, and *Scream* reunited Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette. *Ghostbusters: Afterlife* not only included the original cast but even used digital technology to recreate the late Harold Ramis. *Texas Chainsaw Massacre* tried this approach without any of the original actors. However, 2023 saw several of these legacy sequels – including Michael Keaton as Batman in *The Flash*, Harrison Ford’s fifth *Indiana Jones* film, and Ellen Burstyn’s return in *The Exorcist: Believer* – fail to perform well at the box office, suggesting this trend may be losing popularity.

We’ve seen a few successful follow-ups to older movies, like *Top Gun: Maverick* and *Trainspotting 2*, but generally, this trend feels tired. It often seems like studios are relying on audience nostalgia instead of letting franchises develop and change. The *Alien* series has mostly avoided this trap, and part of the reason is practical: the timeline makes it difficult to bring back Ripley, as she’s either in cryosleep or would be deceased. While the series has featured characters *inspired* by Ripley, they’ve always been new and original, with their own stories.

‘Alien’ Has Created New, Exciting Characters


Hulu

Often, legacy sequels happen when a franchise needs a boost after losing steam. However, the *Alien* series isn’t in that situation – it’s actually stronger now than it has been since 1986’s *Aliens*. The recent film, *Alien: Romulus* (2024), was a success, earning $105 million in the US and $350 million globally. What’s driving interest in a sequel isn’t nostalgia for the original characters like Ellen Ripley, but rather audiences connecting with the new characters, Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and Andy (David Johnson).

The first season of *Alien: Earth* recently finished airing in September 2025. This series acts as a prequel to the original *Alien* film, taking place two years before its events. It’s successfully broadened the *Alien* universe, introducing not only new corporate entities beyond Weyland-Yutani, but also four previously unseen alien species, making the world feel much larger. The show centers around a group of unique characters – hybrids who transfer a child’s consciousness into android bodies – led by Wendy, played by Sydney Chandler. They build upon the idea of artificial life first explored in *Prometheus*, but in a more captivating way. Wendy and her companions are engaging new characters with many potential storylines, and viewers are excited to see what happens to them in future seasons.

Both *Alien: Romulus* and *Alien: Earth* intentionally avoided relying on the established Ellen Ripley character. Instead, the filmmakers developed fresh, compelling characters, which has proven successful. The *Alien* franchise is thriving without Sigourney Weaver, and bringing her back now would feel like a predictable and uninspired attempt to capitalize on a current trend, and would echo past creative missteps.

Look, Sigourney Weaver *is* Ripley, and Ripley is iconic. But honestly, just because she’s one of the best characters ever created doesn’t mean the *Alien* franchise needs to keep circling back to her. I’m a firm believer that some stories benefit from having a definitive ending, and that means not always requiring the original actors to come back, no matter how beloved they are.

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2025-10-20 03:44