When fans think of theAlienfranchise there are a lot of images come to mind. First, there’s the haunting sadomasochistic design of the Xenomorphs from legendary artist H.R Giger, which remains terrifying to this day. There’s also the minimalistic and grounded production design, which made the original film feel all the more real and suffocating. There’s also the rotating cast of unique characters who have appeared throughout the franchise. However, if there’s one character who representsAlienit’s the protagonist of the original 1979 Ridley Scott film, Ripley.
Ripley is easily one of the most significant female protagonists in cinema history, and as you’re able to see from this talented cosplayer, she remains an important character to this day. The costume comes to us from Las Vegas-based cosplayer Nicole Marie Jean, who posted this cosplay on one of her Instagram accounts.
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The costume is a pretty accurate recreation of Ripley’s appearance from the originalAlienfilm. This includes her signature jumpsuit, her curly brown hair, and perhaps most importantly, the only other surviving character, Jonesy the cat. In the first film, Jonsey is an orange tabby cat that hangs around the ship. He’s arguably one of the first and only crewmembers to encounter the titular Alien and live to meow another day. The whole costume is a great tribute to both the original filmand actress Sigourney Weaver.
WhileAlienwasn’t Weaver’s first film, it was clearly her breakthrough role. Previously, she had a small part in Woody Allen’s romantic comedyAnnie Halland spent time performing on stage in a theatre production ofTitanic.In the originalAlienfilm, Weaver plays Warrant Officer Lt. Ripley, one of the several crew members of the commercial hauler known as the Nostromo. The role was originally intended to go to actress Veronica Cartwright, who was later recast as the ship’s navigator Lambert. An interesting note about the casting ofAlienis that all the roles were essentially written to be gender-neutral, hence each character only being referred to by their surname. It wasn’t untilJames Cameron’s sequelAliensthat audiences learned Ripley’s first name was Ellen. So there is probably an alternate reality (Perhaps a Weaver variant?) where Ripley is played by a man.
This would have been a loss though because Weaver brings a really effective feminine strength and a stoicism that wasn’t seen in many female protagonists at the time. It’s not hard to see why Ripley has become one of the most significant female protagonists in cinema history. With the cancellation ofNeil Blomkamp’s fifthAliensequel, it’s unlikely we’ll see Ripley again on the big screen.
It doesn’t sound like she’ll be making an appearance inthe upcomingAlien series for FX, but who knows, maybe sometime down the line, Weaver will get the chance to reprise her iconic role. Until then, you can check out more of Nicole Marie Jeans cosplays over at her Instagram.
You can watch the entireAlienfranchise streaming on Disney Plus outside the US.
