Sigourney Weaver: ‘Alien’ sequel will be ‘worth the wait’

LOS ANGELES, April 26 (UPI) — Sigourney Weaver says a new Alien sequel is still in the works.

The 66-year-old actress gave an update on the Neill Blomkamp movie at a recent VMware event following word the untitled film was pushed back for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus sequel, Alien: Covenant.

“Ridley asked Neill not to make our Alien ’til after Prometheus 2,” Weaver said. “[Ridley] wanted his movie to shoot and be released first. But it’s an amazing script, and Neill and I are really excited about doing it.”

“We’re doing other things until we can get going on that,” she revealed. “I’d be really surprised if we didn’t do it, because it’s such a great script, and we love working together. So, it’s just going to take a little bit longer to get out to you, but it’ll be worth the wait.”

Weaver played Ellen Ripley in the original Alien (1979) and sequels Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992) and Alien Resurrection (1997). The actress will reprise the character in Alien 5, which Blomkamp previously described as a “genetic sibling” to Aliens.

“I would love to take Ripley out of sort of orbiting around in space and give a proper finish to what was such an excellent story,” the director told Sky Movies. “I want this film to feel like it is literally the genetic sibling of Aliens. So it’s Alien, Aliens, this movie.”

Blomkamp shared concept art of an adult Newt in honor of Alien Day on Monday. The character was portrayed by Carrie Henn in Aliens and Danielle Edmond in Alien 3, but died prior to the events of the latter movie.

Scott, meanwhile, will release Alien: Covenant on Aug. 5, 2017, starring Michael Fassbender and Katherine Waterston. The Prometheus movies take place in the same universe as Alien, but are not direct prequels or sequels.