Sigourney Weaver reveals her favourite 'Alien' movie

'Which is the best Alien film?' is a question that will always prompt furious debate among film fans, but now its star Sigourney Weaver has had her say

The 71-year-old actor, who earned an Academy Award nomination playing Ellen Ripley for the original 1979 film and starred in four of the franchise's six feature films, has named James Cameron's 1986 entry Aliens as the best of the lot.

"The best-constructed story for the character to tell was in Aliens, just because Jim [Cameron] has such an amazing sense of structure of story," Weaver told Collider in a recent interview to promote her new film My Salinger Year.

"The whole set-up for Ripley in Aliens and then what she ends up doing and what it, finding this new family by the end. The whole structure of that story, to me, was gold," she adds.

Read more: Ridley Scott updates on next Alien film

"I always felt that I could jump up and down on it. It was such a great, supportive, arc for the character. In that sense, the second one for Ripley is probably the most satisfying."

The sci-fi horror series, which began in 1979 and spawned three sequels, two prequels, two Alien v Predator spinoffs, countless comic books, video games, and audio dramas will next be returning as a TV series.

In 2020, Disney announced a new series is in development from Fargo and Legion creator Noah Hawley, which will be set on earth.

Announced as a FX series for Hulu, the show is likely to debut on Disney+ through its Star label.

Ridley Scott, who directed the first Alien film, and returned for 2012's prequel Prometheus and its follow-up Alien: Covenant, is in talks to executive-produce the series.

Talking about his pitch for an Alien series, Hawley told Observer: "As I did with Legion, the exercise is: Let’s take the superhero stuff out of the show and see if it’s still a great show. What’s the show about?

Read more: Sigourney Weaver has read treatment for 'Alien 5' featuring return of Ripley

"Let’s take the Alien out of the show. What’s the show about? What are the themes, who are the characters and what is the human drama? Then we drop the aliens back in and we go, ‘This is great. Not only is there great human drama, but there’s aliens!’”

Alien is available to stream on NOW TV with a Sky Cinema Pass.

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