Sigourney Weaver says she's seen "50 pages" of "extraordinary" Alien script where Ripley returns

The pages in question were written by Weaver's old friend (and Alien producer) Walter Hill.

By William Hughes | October 10, 2025 | 7:15pm

Photo: Jacopo Raule/GC Images

Film News Alien

Sigourney Weaver is pretty clearly a “never say never” type when it comes to revisiting parts she likes; this is a woman who’s returned to franchises after being gone for 32 years, after outright dying (praise Eywa!), and, most memorably, after being full-on melted in molten steel. That latter death—depicted in 1992’s Alien 3, and then cloned past in 1997’s Alien: Resurrection—is on our minds lately thanks to comments Weaver made at New York Comic-Con this week, revealing that she’s seen “50 pages” of an “extraordinary” script that would once again bring Ellen Ripley back to her frequently horrible, apparently unending life.

To be fair, Weaver wasn’t talking about some hastily scrawled fan-fiction from a Johnny-get-messily-devoured-lately to the franchise: These 50 pages are apparently the brainchild of Walter Hill, who’s not only been a producer on every Alien film, but also did writing work on the first three movies (including an uncredited rewrite on the original Alien that’s frequently credited with helping to turn it into a masterpiece). Weaver, who was on a reunion panel for the original film with Veronica Cartwright, says she’s had at least one meeting with Disney (which picked up the franchise in its big Fox purchase several years back) about exploring Hill’s idea for bringing Ripley back:

Most Popular

Walter Hill is a very good friend of mine, and he wrote 50 pages of where Ripley would be now, and they’re quite extraordinary. I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but I have had a meeting with Fox or Disney…I’ve never felt the need [to reprise the role]. I was always like, ‘Let her rest, let her recover.’ What Walter has written seems so true to me, as very much about the society that would incarcerate someone who has tried to help mankind, but she’s a problem to them, so she’s sort of tucked away. I think it’s a very strong first 50 pages. I’m thinking about working with Walter to see what the rest of the story would be.

It’s not entirely clear, from Weaver’s comments, if Hill’s script refers to the Ripley clone from Resurrection, or the original woman; if the latter, it’d mean a pretty serious retcon of the end of Alien 3, but it’s not like that film’s troubled production didn’t play fast and loose with continuity, either.

For what it’s worth, Alien still clearly has quite a bit of juice/goo in it: The franchise recently arrived on TV in the form of Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth, and Disney is currently working on a sequel to its most recent film, Alien: Romulus.

[via Variety]