They say that in space, no one can hear you scream. That’s not the case for Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus, which brought the dormant Alien franchise out of hypersleep and scored an impressive $350.9 million at the box office. After Ridley Scott’s plans for an Alien: Covenant sequel fell through, Álvarez powered ahead with a reboot of sorts, setting Romulus at a distinct point between the original Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens.

The Alien franchise has tried to reinvent itself before by making the likes of Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw and Katherine Waterston’s Daniels the new heroine. However, both have fallen short of Sigourney Weaver’s iconic performance as Ellen Ripley. Weaver was the backbone of the series from its 1979 inception through to Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s maligned Alien: Resurrection, and while there’s been plenty of talk about her eventual return, it hasn't happened…yet.

Alien: Romulus Backs The Franchise Into A Corner

Alien: Romulus introduced an idea that may be a problem for future Alien sequels.

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By Lauren Rouse

Ellen Ripley Rumored for Alien Return

Alien: Romulus’ place in the Alien timeline means it’s perfectly possible to weave Ellen Ripley’s story into things. Álvarez even confirmed the Easter egg that her Narcissus lifeboat can be seen blasting off from the doomed Renaissance space station before its destruction. 1986’s Aliens picked up with Ripley being rescued from the Narcissus and learning that she’d been adrift in space for 57 years after the incident on the Nostromo. There’s never been a mention of Ripley being woken up and then being put back to sleep, meaning it’s hard to see how she’d fit into a Romulus sequel set before Aliens.

Wild rumors recently circulated that a de-aged Weaver would be returning to the world of Alien for the first time since she voiced the character in 2014’s beloved Alien: Isolation. She hasn’t physically acted as Ripley since Resurrection in 1997. Insider Daniel Richtman told fans:

For the next Alien movie, they’re considering bringing back Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) using de-aging technology.

This could be something of a poisoned chalice. Despite Romulus getting an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects, it was famously panned for its depiction of the late Sir Ian Holm and received comparisons to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story for its questionable CGI. De-aging actors for movies is nothing new, with everyone from Robert Downey Jr. In Captain America: Civil War to Robert De Niro in The Irishman showing it can work well.

Alien Has (Sadly) Moved Past Ripley

Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Alien_ Resurrection

With a Romulus sequel on the way, 20th Century Studios boss Steve Asbell confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Cailee Spaeny’s Rain and David Jonsson’s Andy are expected to return. While the franchise dropped the ball with Rapace and failed to make the most of Elizabeth Shaw’s potential to be the next Ripley, Spaeny has a real chance to cement herself as the ‘new’ face of the Alien franchise. Despite a few ties to Prometheus and Covenant alongside the inclusion of Holm’s likeness, Romulus did its best to branch away from the Alien movies that have come before — and was better for it.

Bringing back Ripley would only complicate things. While it might be a nice nod to include something like Rain coming across her sign-off message from the Nostromo, there’s no need to bring the character back. It feels like having Ripley appear in this new era of Alien would be there just to say that they’ve got Weaver back one last time. Much like Star Wars faced critiques for convolutedly bringing back Ian McDiarmid’s Sheev Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker, fans would surely ask whether there’s any need to shoehorn Ripley into a Romulus sequel. This is likely the reason why an alternate ending to 2018’s The Predator featuring Ripley (played by stuntwoman Brenna Watkins) was cut.

Still, there could be more to the story. Things took an interesting turn when Richtman circled back and suggested Weaver’s return wasn’t for the Romulus sequel, but for something “similar to what Neill Blomkamp was trying to do.” Back in 2015, District 9’s Neil Blomkamp confirmed he was working on Alien 5, which was going to go down the Halloween (2018) reboot route and annex some of the more divisive lore. Picking up after Cameron’s Aliens, Alien 5 was going to undo the controversial decision to kill off Michael Biehn’s Hicks and Carrie Henn’s Newt before Alien 3.

Blomkamp was reportedly going to use de-aging technology to bring Weaver and Biehn closer to their Aliens ages, although others suggested there would be a massive time jump that featured them at their current ages. Some were even fan-casting Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Sarah Michelle Gellar to play an adult Newt. The main thing was that Weaver was going to be locked in for one more adventure as Ellen Ripley. Back when Blomkamp was developing Alien 5, he told The Guardian:

“I felt like [for] audiences who loved Aliens, there was an opportunity to do one more film with Sigourney in a way that may have satiated what people were looking for and what I think I was looking for. What doesn’t make sense is that I feel like it’s what the audience wanted so it’s strange because Fox would never really turn down money.”

In 2023, Weaver suggested that she was done playing Ripley, admitting to Total Film that the ship had sailed:

“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. I’m very happy doing what I’m doing. I put in my time in space!”

Weaver delivered a little more hope in 2024, telling Deadline she was waiting for a great script that makes her want to jump back into action. Despite admitting Ripley is never far away from her, she questioned how much the public wants or needs another Ripley movie.

If Richtman is right, it’s possible that a great script has finally lured her Weaver back to take on those acid-bleeding Xenomorphs. There’s been a lot of discussion about expanding the Alien IP, and just as Romulus is separate from Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth, there’s also been talk about Ridley Scott continuing his post-Covenant arc. As much as it would be great to see more from Ripley, it’s unlikely that there will ever be a sequel to Resurrection, leaving this as the endpoint of her story (although the original Ripley technically died in Alien 3). Weaver isn’t known for making cameos for the sake of it, and like she skipped out on Ghostbusters: Afterlife, it’ll take more than an impressive paycheck to bring her back to Alien.