Fans of Alien celebrated Alien Day on Wednesday and learned several things about the future of their beloved franchise. Alien Day is held on 26 April in recognition of LV-426, the moon where Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and her late crew first discovered the Xenomorphs. While director Fede Alvarez celebrated Alien Day by teasing his upcoming movie as part of the franchise, Weaver told fans she wouldn’t return to play one of her most iconic characters.
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Weaver Says Goodbye to Ellen Ripley
When it was announced that Neill Blomkamp, the creator behind Chappie and District 9, would be helming an Alien 5 project, Weaver was incredibly supportive of the project and expressed her desire to reprise her role as Ellen Ripley more than once.
It was rumoured that Blomkamp’s Alien 5 planned to ignore the events of Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection and bring back several other characters. However, the project was scrapped, and Weaver decided it was time to move on, which she explained during an interview with Total Film:
“There are all kinds of younger actors taking this kind of role. And there was an Alien [movie] that I really wanted to do with Neill Blomkamp and we didn’t get to do that, but, you know, that ship has sailed. I’m very happy doing what I’m doing. I put in my time in space!”
While she might be departing from the role, she made sure to praise those behind the creation of her character. “They made Ripley a woman, without making her this helpless creature. These were men who were creating this woman character, but they liked and respected strong women.”
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Fede Alvarez Celebrates Alien Day and Teases His Upcoming Project
On Wednesday, the Don’t Breathe and Evil Dead director Tweeted an image of a Facehugger attached to a clapperboard with the words “Happy Alien Day” scrawled across it with the caption, “Happy #AlienDay everybody!” It’s well-known that Alvarez is a massive fan of the Alien franchise, so hopefully, he will create something as memorable as the previous films.
We know very little about the upcoming project besides the fact that it will have nothing to do with the previous films, focusing on an entirely new and younger cast of characters rather than the older characters we saw in corporate, militaristic and scientific roles before.
Steve Asbell, president of 20th Century, revealed that Alvarez’s pitch was picked up “purely off the strength of Fede’s pitch. It was just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven’t seen before.”
“It’s not a film that has to be all things to all people with those gargantuan budgets. They get to be authentically what they are. And this is closer to its genre roots.”
While it’s unfortunate to see Ripley’s story come to a close after so many years, fans are curious to see where Fede Alvarez takes the franchise and whether the characters he creates will have just as much presence as Ellen Ridley.
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TL;DR
- Alien fans celebrated Alien Day on Wednesday.
- Fede Alvarez teased his upcoming project on Twitter.
- Sigourney Weaver revealed she won’t be returning to play her iconic character.
