Alien: Veronica Cartwright originally thought she was playing Ripley, not Lambert

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Have you ever showed up to work confused about what you're supposed to do? Well, actress Veronica Cartwright has. At the 45 Years of Alien panel at C2E2 2024 (moderated by Popverse's own Ashley V. Robinson), Cartwright shared a story with the audience about a major mixup that happened when she first joined the production.

"Originally, I thought I was cast as Ripley," Cartwright shared with the audience, to a lot of fan surprise. "I didn't know I was Lambert until I got to England and the wardrobe department called me and said 'We're going to have you come in tomorrow so we can fit you for Lambert,' and I said 'No I'm Ripley.'"

But the wardrobe department insisted that she was Lambert, to Cartwright's dismay. At the time, she responded "I haven't even read the script for Lambert, so I'm going to have to re-read it because she seems to be pretty loopy." But, there is another caveat about the character that Cartwright had to say in defense of her character Lambert. "She’s the only person who says ‘Let’s get off that ship,’" Cartwright pointed out to much laughter and applause from the audience, "so I’m the wisest.”

Re-live the majesty of C2E2 with our the C2E2 2024 Main Stage panel videos on-demand, all the major things Popverse found at the Chicago show, and C2E2 2024's best cosplay.