On Friday, November 7th, 2025, a screening of 1979’s Alien took place at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, France. Following the film, actress Sigourney Weaver gave a 60-minute masterclass titled, “A Lesson In Cinema,” discussing her time in the film. The talk was moderated by Frédéric Bonnaud.
During the Q&A, a member of the audience asked her about Neill Blomkamp’s cancelled Alien 5 project that would have retconned Alien 3 and brought back Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, Michael Biehn as Corporal Hicks and Carrie Henn as Newt.
On Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5
Weaver confirmed her admiration for the director and the quality of the unproduced sequel, stating she “loved working with Neill and he had this idea of bringing Ripley and Newt back. It was a wonderful script”. However, she explained the project’s demise, citing creator Ridley Scott’s commitment to his own prequel series:
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 workin with Neil 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 Neil in fact just gave up and he’s so talented. I wish him all the best.
For reference, Blomkamp revealed his Alien 5 project when he posted some concept art early in 2015 and Fox did greenlight the film, but by the end of the year, it was put on hold due to Ridley Scott wanting to make Alien Covenant. There have been conflicting reports about whether or not there was a script in place. Sigourney Weaver and James Cameron said that they had read Blomkamp’s script and called it amazing, while Ridley Scott said there was a never script, only an idea and a treatment. You can read more about Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5 project here.
Ripley
On Walter Hill’s Alien V Treatment
Weaver then shifted focus to a separate project: a 50-page treatment titled Alien V written by Walter Hill, the producer of the original film. Weaver, who initially revealed this treatment in 2020 and called it “quite extraordinary” last month, provided new details on the story’s unique direction. While she reiterated that she has “never particularly wanted to go back to the series,” she finds Hill’s approach intriguing.
Actually, Walter Hill has written about 50 pages. Maybe, by now, he’s written more about where Ripley might be now. And although I’ve never particularly wanted to go back to the series, there’s something about her experience being sidelined now, probably by this society, by this company, by this world and being probably around 200 years old, but still Ripley and you know, presumably these problems still out there. So I’m going to see what happens with Walter’s script. It would not be like what we’ve seen tonight. It would not be running around through airshafts. It would be a very different kind of story.
On Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth Series
Finally, Weaver expressed strong support for the recent series from showrunner Noah Hawley, confirming her enthusiasm for the franchise’s future.
On the other hand, I loved Alien: Earth. I thought it was remarkable. So interesting, terrifying about our world and yet you could understand… you can imagine a world where each tech bro owns a planet. You know, it’s not that far from where America is now. So, I’m glad to see that Alien has legs, as they say, in the business. And I think it’s a very interesting time for the series.
The video of her full masterclass is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxLA8YSwINY (The discussion on Alien 5 and Alien V begins around [01:08:52]).
Thanks to Max for the news. Keep your browsers locked on Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest Alien V news! You can follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums. Want to support what we do here at AvP Galaxy and get exclusive perks while doing so? Check out our Patreon!
There's still plenty of the Alien to explore in the Alien films.
I don't expect Hill's movie to happen, it is almost certainly going to go the way of Blomkamp's, but 20th does seem to be playing their cards in a way to leave the door open for a post-Aliens Ripley return for now... just in case.
The copium is strong
We aren't getting a sequel to resurrection
Deal with it
Exactly
To believe that alien 3 and resurrection are going to be adhered to requires two straight up impossibilities
That Walter hill made peace with alien 3 and alien resurrection
And that the tagline "no one can hear you dream" has nothing to do with false memories
Either way I doubt Hill would write a treatment for Ripley 8.
The problem here is that your hypothesis Weaver is not talking about Resurrection relies on not one, but TWO improbable possibilities:
- Weaver has forgotten a key element from the one movie series she worked for the longest time on, the one she's the most famous for, the one she's the most passionate about, engaged in endlessly
- Her metaphor just happened to be the exact duration of the Alien 3 - Alien Resurrection timeskip, by coincidence
It's just not very good logic.
The resurrection era is deeply bland
Hardly can find any reason to preserve it
Then they'll either reboot (if they must) or maybe WRITE SOMETHING NEW??
I was being mostly facetious
I can't imagine any scenario where he would return to this franchise, to a film Ridley is producing, or to someone else's script.
It presumably would have happened from Ridley and Jimbo (likely with some of the root of what became Prometheus baked into it) at that point in time if AVP wasn't on the cards.
Even by the 2010s, I think Weaver and Biehn were probably a bit to long in the tooth to believably headline a new Alien film.
If they want to erase Alien³ and Resurrection, I hope they'll fail.
Hmm, if I'm mistaken then sorry for that. But I remember that he said it changed after talking to Weaver. Which to me only means one thing. I doubt she like told him to add the characters, but I doubt she had no influence.
Especially now with the Hill treatment, it seems like she really wants to play Ripley again.
Amen.
A stand-alone sequel with new characters and perhaps a bishop cameo
"When we were making it, I wasn't really sure what was going on with 'Alien: Romulus' and I don't even know how aware I even was of 'Alien: Earth.' So I just didn't want to step on anyone's toes. I wanted to make sure we were doing our own thing, and selfishly, I'd also done so much 'Predator' in different time periods that I was excited for this to be in the future, even past 'Alien: Resurrection.'"
Doesn't sound very decisive to me and this is the most recent interview
Given everything that we know about this project, I don't see any way she could be referring to Resurrection/Ripley 8 here. The "200 years" comment just feels like a coincidence to me, with it in this context being her rough estimate of Ripley's age in this film: her age in Alien + 57 years + X amount of time post-Aliens.
I don't think Weaver recommended it or asked for it. I'm pretty sure, based on the way need talked about it in the past, Neill pivoted in that direction on his own accord after talking with Sigourney on the set of Chappie about his idea/pitch.
Makes me think that he's specifically aiming for the period, not just to avoid muddying things, but because it's important.
Indicting that he might not be sure
And it seems inevitable tbh.
And does this imply she doesn't have the best opinion about Scott anymore, or is it just an offhand comment not to be looked deeper into?
Also, she keeps saying how Neil had this brilliant idea about bringing Newt, Hicks and Ripley back, when Neil has said himself that his original idea didn't have them, it was Weaver who recommended that. But she never seems to acknowledge that explanation.
Let this retcon proposal shit f**king die already.
Regarding badlands
It's purposefully era neutral
So long as it is set after aliens
That makes her quite an ancient citizen, if I do say so myself.
Ripley minus alien 3 would have existed for nearly 150 years
Another thing to consider, we already have an insider saying that this ignores alien 3
It's still funny to me that it took a Predator movie to finally move the Alien franchise forward in time.
Also Badlands being set after Resurrection I find so satisfying, f**king enough with the prequels and in-betweenquels let's move forward.
A movie that moves the timeline forward, and is not awkwardly wedged between two movies?! My excitement has increased from a 4 to a solid 7. Would watch for sure
I don't think it means much either way, but 200 years is pretty specific to Resurrection