Sigourney Weaver confirms roles in The Mandalorian & Grogu and two more Avatars

Sigourney Weaver is well acquainted with the cold expanse of space. She (literally) burst onto the scene as Ellen Ripley in Ridley Scott’s Alien in 1979. She’s spent time on Pandora for both Avatar and The Way Of Water, and just confirmed to Deadline that she’s on board for Avatars 4 and 5 as well. She even voiced the ship’s computer in WALL-E. Now, she’s taking her considerable talents to a galaxy far, far away.

Speaking to Deadline on the eve of receiving the Venice Film Festival’s lifetime achievement award, Weaver confirmed that she’s “playing a role in The Mandalorian & Grogu,” the upcoming Star Wars film directed by Jon Favreau and based on his show about Pedro Pascal palling around with that adorable little green puppet. More importantly, Weaver also confirmed that she “got to meet Grogu the other day,” so she really doesn’t even need to actually film the movie if she doesn’t want to. She’s already experienced the greatest perk she’s gonna get from it.

After some fan debate, Disney also seemed to confirm Pedro Pascal’s involvement in the movie in an official D23 recap earlier this month. In a write-up of Favreau and producer Dave Filoni’s presentation, the company listed Pascal as the film’s star. The Mandalorian & Grogu is currently slated to premiere May 22, 2026.

Of course, Weaver has also played many other Earth-bound characters, all of which contributed to her selection for the prestigious award. “It’s a recognition of being able to adventure all over the place in the odd way I have done in my career,” she reflected. “The other reason I’m so grateful for this award is because of what it says about actors, who in many ways are the engines of these stories. The recognition of what actors can bring to the table has changed over the years. Over the course of my career, it has been wonderful to see the influx of women into so many departments, which has brought a lot of oxygen into the business. And certainly, actors are listened to more today; we’re not only considered as commodities, and I think that’s very exciting.”