Ripley Makes Surprising Return in Brand-New 'Alien' Trailer

Ellen Ripley is finally back in the brand-new Alien trailer.

It’s been six years since the last Alien film crawled into movie theaters. Alien: Covenant (2017) opened to mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office, grossing $240 million worldwide against a budget of $100 million, which doesn’t include marketing costs.

Covenant is the sequel to Prometheus (2012), the first in a series of planned Alien prequels. But those plans were scrapped in favor of a “standalone” installment unconcerned with chronology, helmed by Don’t Breathe (2016) director Fede Álvarez.

Katherine Waterson as Daniels in Alien: Covenant — Credit: 20th Century Studios

The untitled film (rumored to be Romulus) will focus on a group of young space colonists trapped on a remote station with a xenomorph infestation. Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, Alieen Wu, Archie Renaux, and David Johnson are confirmed to star.

It will follow eight previous Alien films: Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), Alien: Resurrection (1997), Prometheus, Alien: Covenant, and the spinoff films, Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007).

The Xenomorph climbing onto the ship in Alien: Covenant — Credit: 20th Century Studios

Production recently wrapped on the film, which is currently set for release next year. Meanwhile, there’s also a live-action Alien television series in development from Fargo‘s Noah Hawley, which is scheduled to premiere on Hulu in the near future.

But will ’80s icon Sigourney Weaver reprising her role as Ellen Ripley in either one of these projects? Well, the good news is that Ellen Ripley is set to return.

A new trailer for the online asymmetric multiplayer survival horror video game Dead by Daylight (2017) has just hatched, and it’s an Alien DLC (downloadable content) which includes Ellen Ripley, the xenomorph, and a new map in the form of the wreckage of the Nostromo, the spaceship from the 1979 film.

Check it out below (don’t worry — from the comfort of your own home, no one can hear you scream):

Alien is the latest in a very long line of DLCs for Dead by Daylight, which have so far included Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Stranger Things, and Scream. The game pits players against iconic horror villains (or Dead by Daylight-specific ones) while they navigate nightmarish environments, some familiar, some unique to the game. And soon, fans will be able to take control of Ellen Ripley and take on the deadly xenomorph.

Unfortunately, though, the bad news it that, while Ellen Ripley is set to return, the beloved Ghostbusters (1984) star, Sigourney Weaver, isn’t.

Not only is Weaver not providing the voice for Ellen Ripley in Dead by Daylight, in an interview with Vanity Fair in 2021, Noah Hawley said the Alien television series will not revolve around the iconic character from the first four Alien films:

“It’s not a Ripley story. She’s one of the great characters of all time, and I think the story has been told pretty perfectly, and I don’t want to mess with it. It’s a story that’s set on Earth also. The alien stories are always trapped… Trapped in a prison, trapped in a space ship. I thought it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of ‘What happens if you can’t contain it?’ are more immediate!”

Ripley and the xenomorph up close and personal in Alien 3 — Credit: 20th Century Studios

Earlier this year, it was announced that Don’t Worry Darling (2022) star Sydney Chandler will be playing one of the leads in the series (though she does have a striking resemblance to Sigourney Weaver). And in an interview with Total Film magazine back in April, Weaver herself talked about reprising her role as Ellen Ripley, citing the canceled Alien project with Neill Blomkamp that would have served as a direct sequel to the 1986 sequel, Aliens, ignoring every installment since a’ la Halloween (2018):

“There are all kinds of younger actors taking this kind of role,” she said. “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!”

Ellen Ripley comforting Newt in Aliens 1986 — Credit: 20th Century Studios

Dead by Daylight‘s Alien DLC will be released on August 29.

The new Alien film will release in theaters on August 16, 2024. There is no release date for the Alien television series.

Will you be playing Dead By Daylight just so that you can see Ripley take on the xenomorphs again? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!