Ridley Scott has recently confirmed that he is working on a series of prequels that will lead up to the first Alien film. This begs the question: what about Ellen Ripley?
The latest issue of Empire magazine features a slew of information about Alien: Covenant, and also includes a very interesting response to a question about Ellen Ripley’s place in the new installments. When asked for his thought on ‘de-aging’ Sigourney Weaver with digital effects, Scott responded: “You could do that”. While not a definitive answer, it looks like Scott is open to the idea.
We were pretty close to seeing Sigourney Weaver reprise the role of Ellen Ripley via Neill Blomkamp’s Alien sequel – which Weaver had said would have given Ripley a satisfying ending – although has now been sidelined by Scott’s return to the franchise..
While Alien: Covenant looks fantastic, and having Mr. Scott involved with the franchise again is wonderful, this does mean that we may lose out on seeing Ellen Ripley on screen again. Many fans of the franchise feel that Alien: Resurrection was not a fitting send-off for such an iconic character, and a new movie could potentially fix that.
Alien: Covenant is set for release on May 19th and is penned by Michael Green, Jack Paglen and John Logan. Prometheus stars Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace return alongside new cast additions Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice), Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down), Demian Bichir (A Better Life), Billy Crudup (Watchmen), Jussie Smollett (Empire), Carmen Ejogo (Selma), Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color), Benjamin Rigby (That’s Not Me), Callie Hernandez (Machete Kills) and James Franco (Why Him?).
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Originally published April 17, 2017. Updated November 21, 2019.
