Sigourney Weaver has finally said what many Alien fans suspected for years. Neill Blomkamp’s ambitious Alien 5 didn’t die on its own. It was strangled in the egg by Ridley Scott.
A decade ago, Blomkamp was the golden boy of sci-fi. After District 9 stunned critics and earned four Oscar nominations in 2009, the South African filmmaker looked unstoppable. When he teased concept art for his Alien sequel, bringing back Ellen Ripley and Newt, fans lost their minds. The artwork promised a return to the gritty, industrial horror of James Cameron’s Aliens. It looked like the perfect follow-up. And then… Alien 5 vanished into space.
This month, during a Masterclass at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, Sigourney Weaver finally revealed what happened. “Yes. Well, I think like many of us, I was a big admirer of Neill. His movie was so striking, and I worked with him on a movie called [Chappie]. And I loved working with Neill, and he had this idea of bringing Ripley and Newt back. It was a wonderful script, and unfortunately, it was at that point I think that Ridley Scott decided to be very possessive about the series and really drilled down on his prequels. And so I think it was a disaster for that project. We were never able to… I think Neill, in fact, just gave up, and he’s so talented. I wish him all the best,” she said (via AVPGalaxy).
So, Ridley Scott, the man who started it all in 1979, wasn’t ready to hand over his xenomorphs. He had his own prequels in the works (Prometheus and Alien: Covenant) and apparently didn’t want anyone else touching the world. Fans weren’t exactly thrilled. Covenant barely scratched the box office surface and left the franchise drifting in space… again.
Blomkamp didn’t take the loss well. When Uproxx asked him about Alien 5 a couple of years ago during his Gran Turismo press run, he cut the question short. “It’s hard to define how little I care about what happens with Alien.” The interview ended right there.
Still, Blomkamp isn’t done with aliens. District 10, the long-promised sequel to his 2009 hit, is apparently moving forward. He confirmed in 2021 that his wife and writing partner, Terri Tachell, is penning the script with star Sharlto Copley, who’s also expected to return. The director said he wants to keep the sequel “stripped-down and bare-bones,” much like the original. Fans have waited fifteen years; a CGI-heavy blockbuster isn’t what they signed up for.
Meanwhile, Ripley might be making a comeback of her own. Rumors are swirling that Disney and 20th Century Studios want to digitally de-age Sigourney Weaver for a new Alien project. Given how well Marvel and Scorsese have pulled off the digital fountain of youth, it’s not impossible—but should they? Weaver’s Ripley, ranked as one of cinema’s greatest heroes by the American Film Institute, has already earned her legacy. She doesn’t need more pixels to prove it.
After all, the Alien series has always thrived when it takes risks, not when it tries to recreate the past. Just look at Alien: Earth, for example. Maybe it’s time to let Ripley rest. And let new stories hatch.
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