Sci-fi legend Sigourney Weaver has gone up against face-hugging aliens and squared off against colonizers on lush green planets, but she has never faced stormtroopers and galactic bounty hunters.
Until now.
Weaver is in talks to join the cast of The Mandalorian & Grogu, the first Star Wars movie to go into production since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau is directing the feature, which is expected to film later this year. Favreau, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm chief creative officer Dave Filoni will produce the feature.
The Mandalorian launched in November 2019 as the flagship show for Disney+, with the character then known as Baby Yoda becoming a pop culture phenomenon. Pedro Pascal leads the series as Din Djarin, also known as The Mandalorian, a warrior who reluctantly (at first) cares for Grogu. The show’s third season bowed last year, and it has launched a number of spinoffs, including The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka, which has a second season in development.
Pascal is expected to return as Djarin, although it’s unclear in what capacity, as the actor has full schedule. For one, he will begin shooting The Fantastic Four for sister Disney division Marvel Studios beginning at the end of July.
Weaver, a three-time Academy Award nominee, is perhaps best known as the longtime face of the Alien franchise, starting with 1979’s Ridley Scott sci-fi horror classic, then establishing her butt-kicking bonafides with James Cameron’s 1986 sequel, Aliens. She starred in two more after that. Her portrayal of maternal monster fighter Ripley proved to be a trailblazer, whose path other screen heroines have since followed.
She later reunited with Cameron Avatar and Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water, with more on the way.
Weaver also notched another pop culture landmark with her appearances in the Ghostbusters movies in the 1980s. She reprised her role of Dana Barrett in the 2021 reboot, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. She is repped by UTA.
The InSneider newsletter was first to report Weaver’s involvement.