Benedict Cumberbatch Almost Played Alan Rickman’s Character in ‘Galaxy Quest’ Sequel

Sigourney Weaver is sharing who almost joined the Galaxy Quest cast.

The actress, 76, revealed that Benedict Cumberbatch almost took over for “a version” of the late Alan Rickman’s character in a sequel to the 1999 science fiction comedy movie during a panel at New York Comic Con on Friday, Oct. 10.

When asked by moderator Josh Horowitz about the long gestating follow-up, Weaver said, “They were absolutely going to do it and they had a very funny story.”

However, Rickman’s death at age 69 in 2016 after a battle with cancer put a pause in the planning. 

“I think it would’ve happened by now,” the actress continued of the sequel. “At a certain point, they talked about Benedict Cumberbatch playing a version of Alan [Rickman]’s part. It’s very hard to come back to it without Alan there.”

The satirical comedy, directed by Dean Parisot, starred Weaver, Rickman, Tim Allen, Tony Shalhoub and Sam Rockwell. The movie follows the cast of an old science fiction show as they are abducted by a group of aliens on a mission to save their planet. 

Weaver also talked about how she related to her character in the comedy flick, Gwen DeMarco, who played Lieutenant Tawny Madison in the fictional TV show, more than her iconic final girl character Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise. 

“I am much closer to Tawny and Gwen than I am to Ripley,” she said. “I related to Gwen because she was a woman in Hollywood who was constantly being judged and evaluated by how she looked all the time, and how she moved and how she looked in her costume. I thought that was very accurate. So I really enjoyed playing her.”

Weaver also revealed that she almost didn’t have the chance to play Gwen. “When I first wanted to be in [Galaxy Quest], I was told, ‘No, they don’t want anyone who’s ever done science fiction to be in this movie.’ And I thought, ‘Well, if anyone knows how to make fun of science fiction in these movies it’s those of us who have been in these movies. Luckily they changed directors and so I got to be in it,” the actress said. 

There have been several attempts to return to the cult classic. There was talk of a live-action television adaptation by Paramount+ in 2023 and a follow-up movie sequel in 2015, per The Hollywood Reporter.

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Rockwell, who played retired actor Guy Fleegman, was asked about a potential sequel in a 2024 interview with GQ and said, “If there was a sequel to Galaxy Quest, we would be on it.”

“We talked about it. Maybe like a limited series. Simon Pegg talked about helping out with it, actually,” he added.