Sigourney Weaver may be new to the galaxy far, far away, but when it comes to “Star Wars,” she goes back to the beginning.
Weaver vividly recalls going to see George Lucas’ film at New York City’s famed Ziegfield Theatre during the original 1977 run, an “awesome” experience being transported to a fantastical landscape and watching fellow up-and-comers Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford in the movie that changed their lives.
“I was looking at three lucky actors who'd made it to the big time and were in this glorious thing. who were a little older than I was or the same age,” Weaver says. “They just looked like they'd made it and they were very comfortable in it, and isn't it cool? I hope I get that lucky someday to be in a movie that has people crowded into a theater all cheering for it.”
She did, of course, going on to star in the iconic “Alien,” “Ghostbusters” and “Avatar” franchises. And at 76, Weaver is making a high-profile debut playing Colonel Ward – who is from the same generation as Fisher’s Princess Leia – in “The Mandalorian and Grogu” (in theaters May 22), the first "Star Wars" movie since 2019's "The Rise of Skywalker."
Director Jon Favreau’s new film continues the adventures of the armored warrior Mando (Pedro Pascal) and his adorable apprentice from the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian.” Colonel Ward is a fighter and pilot from the same Rebellion that took down the Empire in the first “Star Wars” trilogy, and she's now stationed in the outer rim of the galaxy. Her assignment is to track down and capture various Imperial baddies still running around who threaten to ignite another war with the New Republic.
