Sigourney Weaver is Done With Alien: ‘I Put My Time in Space’

Sigourney Weaver has made it clear that the “ship has sailed” on her playing Ellen Ripley in a new Alien movie, even though at one time she was open to the idea of returning.

In a new interview with Total Film magazine, Weaver confirmed that she is done with the Alien franchise and is happy to leave her iconic role behind, especially after Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5 got scrapped — a project that Weaver had been incredibly supportive of from the outset.

“There are all kinds of younger actors taking this kind of role. And there was an Alien [film] that I really wanted to do with Neill Blomkamp, and we didn’t get to do that, but, you know, that ship has sailed,” Weaver said. “I’m very happy doing what I’m doing. I put in my time in space!”

“They made Ripley a woman, without making her this helpless creature,” she added, crediting Ridley Scott as an instrumental force behind the longevity of Ripley and Alien. “These were men who were creating this woman character, but they liked and respected strong women.”

Weaver’s interest in creating a fifth Alien movie spans back long before Blomkamp’s Alien 5 was said to be in the works. IGN reported in 2004 that Weaver had suggested to Fox that it would be interesting to make an Alien film “that could take Ripley to whatever the next stage may be.”

Blomkamp’s scrapped sequel was reportedly going to ignore the events of Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection while bringing back Lance Henriksen’s Bishop, Michael Biehn’s Corporal Hicks, and Carrie Henn’s Newt alongside Weaver, but the project failed to get off the ground.

The sci-fi horror franchise is far from dead, though. There is a standalone Alien movie from Evil Dead director Fede Alvarez on the way and an Alien TV series from Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley in the works at FX, which is said to be a prequel to Scott’s 1979 masterpiece.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.