Sigourney Weaver Fights Aliens In This Sci-Fi Short That Was Only Released Online (For Free)

Have a spare 20 minutes on your lunch break and need something to do other than doomscrolling? Well, in 2017, Sigourney Weaver starred in a sci-fi short, directed by Neill Blomkamp ("District 9," "Elysium"), called "Rakka." Published under the "Oats Studios" series name, it's an anthology series available on Netflix that's straight nightmare fuel about bizarre sci-fi scenarios, usually with a post-apocalyptic or end-of-days theme, it served as the first entry in the series, which ended in 2020.

"Rakka" is very distinctly Blomkamp, featuring shots of real-world locations twisted by alien invaders. It makes sense, as the South African director made one of the best alien invasion movies of all time. As the narration describes, the alien invaders now use humans as incubators, have killed them in waves, and have built structures to re-adapt Earth for this unknown threat. There's also the fact that they can control people through psychic abilities, leaving those fighting back to adorn themselves with various hardware.

Weaver appears in "Part 2" of the 21-minute short, as she's dealing with a crazed IED maker, who in turn wants suicidal individuals to blow up as part of his own resistance against the invaders. It's a grim world, and one you don't truly get to see a resolution to. Despite being released nearly a decade ago, "Rakka" has never been followed up, and the entire "Oats Studios" project hasn't seen an update since 2020.

Blomkamp and Weaver were going to work together on an "Alien" sequel; however, this project never came together, though some images found their way online ( via AVPGalaxy) featuring Weaver in her role as Ellen Ripley long after it had been scrapped. An anonymous user on Reddit has actually collated as much information as possible regarding the canned sequel, but as they say, "Rakka" appears to contain some semblance of the ideas. "Oats Studios" didn't just host "Rakka," but other shorts as well, including sci-fi horror "Zygote," "Cooking with Bill," and "Bad President."

Blomkamp's career has been a little lackluster since the release of "District 9," with movies like "Chappie" not really doing it for critics or audiences. "Oats Studios" was moderately well received online for its sci-fi shorts, but some of its episodes like "Bad President" carry low ratings, and the YouTube comments are littered with individuals asking for "District 10."

With the quality of his movies, it's only right that the cast for Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers" is concerned about the state of Blomkamp's upcoming remake. Michael Ironside stated at C2E2 2025 that he's unsure if the film will ever get made. Blomkamp's record of failed or shelved projects has gained its own Wikipedia page.