Alien Day was yesterday and The Town Hall in New York had a special screening of Aliens that ended with Q&A with Ripley herself Sigourney Weaver.
During the discussion Weaver reaffirms the previous statement that Alien 5 is still going ahead after Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant wraps.
Also, the revelation that she’s never seen Alien Vs Predator and we can’t blame her, as Fox shutdown the original pitch for Alien 5 to make that dumb film instead. Even though, James Cameron and Joss Whedon were developing the script with Ridley Scott willing to return as director.
Another update concerning Alien 5 she hinted that Hicks, Newt and even Bishop could be returning. Concept art has sort of confirmed Hicks and Newt are back, but this the first time a hint that Lance Henriksen who played Bishop might be coming back as well.
“She speaks of the script as if – as far as she is concerned – it’s happening already, and in her mind is the “most satisfying” ending of the story. When first asked about working with Michael Biehn, and their flirtation/romantic relationship in Aliens, she added “you will see a lot more of that in the next one.”
She imagines that Ripley found her a good home with a friend on Gateway station (musing) but she added “when all that is over they, I imagine the three of them, or maybe the four of them now, will go back and pick up Jonesy.”
Michael Biehn has stated an interest to return and was the one who originally mention Newt’s return, while I’m unsure we’ll be seeing Carrie Henn return in the role, I’m equally baffled how Lance returns as Bishop since artificial people don’t really age, I would assume both would need recasting.
It’s starting to sound like the film will indeed pretend that the events of Alien 3 never took place. I’m curious if they’ll incorporate some of the mythology that the film added, like Bishop being sculpted after actual human inventor Michael Bishop and Weyland-Yutani employee.
Michael is a company character we could easily see becoming the villain of Alien 5, to perhaps somewhat honor David Fincher’s film.
Sigourney also teased about shooting something with Neill Blomkamp in South Africa recently, we assume this could be early test footage or another short-film.
She continued to say she just wrapped something else with Blomkamp which she can’t talk about, in South Africa. She stated how expansive the Alien 5 story is, and mentioned that, like the other films, Blomkamp’s film has a very particular new vision.
A release date or even production start hasn’t been announced, but we expect to hear something a little more concrete once Alien: Covenant wraps their shoot.
SOURCE: AVP GALAXY