SEGA signs Bishop for Aliens vs Predator

By Robert Purchese Published 9 December, 2009

Henriksen: not bad for a human.

SEGA has persuaded renowned actor Lance Henriksen to appear in Aliens vs Predator, due out this February.

You'll know him better as Bishop, of course - the android of Aliens.

Henriksen will reprise his AVP: Aliens vs. Predator role as Karl Bishop Weylund, the man upon whom android Bishop was based.

"They've made me look very good," said Henriksen. "This is the first time I've been fully represented in a game, with my voice and how I look, and the Rebellion guys have done a great job. I might score from this game!"

Henriksen didn't begin his acting career until he was 30 years-old, having spent his youth getting into trouble and spending some time in jail. Still, he soon became pals with James Cameron and Bruce Kenselaar and the rest, as they say, is history.

Did you know that James Cameron originally had Henriksen in mind to be The Terminator? Nor did I until I read Wikipedia.

'SEGA signs Bishop for Aliens vs Predator' Screenshot henriksen

The original Terminator.

Henriksen has also appeared in Modern Warfare 2 as General Shepherd, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena as Dacher and in Mass Effect as Admiral Steven Hackett.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • matrim83 #1 2 years ago

    Will the real Bishop do the knife trick as well? Prepare for chopped fingers.

  • tomjoadsghost #2 2 years ago

    Bless him, he's one of those actors that you just cant help liking. Disappointing that this game should have a link to the AVP movie though.

  • Waffleaber #3 2 years ago

    "Henriksen has also appeared in Modern Warfare 2 as General Shepherd"

    Really? Wow, missed that.

  • kangarootoo #4 2 years ago

    "The original Terminator."

    Surely that would be Ash (Ian Holm)?

    Edit: Ahhh. Hadn't read the article when I wrote that. Duh.
    Edited by 1 at 09/12/09 @ 10:05

  • Jesus: Action Figure #5 2 years ago

    Love this guy to pieces!

  • Murton #6 2 years ago

    Something I never got about Alien, Aliens and AvP. Henriksen played Weylund in AvP, president of the company that will later go on to build the androids, so why is Henriksen Bishop in Aliens but not Ash in Alien? I mean did the Weylund Corporation suddenly decide that Bishops model should be a nod to the founder?

    This is on my "Most Wanted" list for next year along with a few of the other great titles that have been announced/dated, I mean I've been looking forward to this for a year already, I just hope the Marine campaign is as badass as the first two games.

  • Darkedge #7 2 years ago

    @Murton Well Ash in Alien was a company plant and the rest of the crew did not know he was a android which would've been a bit difficult if he looked like the founder of the company. Quite posibly there were Bishop androids around at the time but using one would be stupid.
    Still good actor with bad taste in roles, anyway have high hopes for AvP but find it confusing that he's playing Weyland as AvP (the game) HAS to be set hundreds of years later

  • neems #8 2 years ago

    I thought Michael Ironside played General Shepherd in MW2? I am possibly thinking of the wrong character though, I've only played a tiny bit of the single player.

    Edit: Plus one to everybody, courtesy of Lance Henriksen.
    Edited by 2 at 09/12/09 @ 11:21

  • Doctor_What #9 2 years ago

    Yep, Michael Ironside doing his best Lance Henriksen impersonation - they sound so alike I had to IMDB it to be sure.

    EDIT: IMDB has changed since I checked it the first time! The scunners.
    Edited by 1 at 09/12/09 @ 13:13

  • Dark_Stranger #10 2 years ago

    sign Lance Henriksen from orbit, it's the only way to be sure!

  • lordofthedunce #11 2 years ago

    Not bad, for a human

    edit: just read the article blurb. lol

    edit: username = self-fulfilling prophecy



    Edited by 2 at 09/12/09 @ 11:51

  • muscleblade #12 2 years ago

    "Something I never got about Alien, Aliens and AvP. Henriksen played Weylund in AvP"

    You can thank Anderson the director of the horrible AVP movie for that. He didnt take the source material serious at all. Suddenly it took only a few minutes for the Aliens to burst out of the stomack after being Facegugged and a couple of more minutes to grow full size. Theres so many plot holes in that film that made it hard to watch. Too bad since the production values where pretty good.

  • Murton #13 2 years ago

    Musclebalde: I've tried my best to forget about some aspects of that movie, the timings being the main one. My one line review of AvP is pretty much: "decent Predator movie, truly terrible Alien movie" and I still haven't worked up the courage to subject myself to the shitpile that is AvP2, the first one kind of put me off.

  • tomkuryakin #14 2 years ago

    Shit taste in roles? What makes you think that he has that much choice? He's not a megastar, just a very good but under rated actor.

    I'd rather see Lance in a Millennium game than AvP. Still, the man's a legend.

    "Probably on PCP. Broke every bone in his hand. See this scar...?"

  • bad09 #15 2 years ago

    Murton trust me, stay well away from AvP2 if you cherish Aliens or Predator. One of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. Makes AvP1 look like a masterpiece.

  • bad09 #16 2 years ago

    "Probably on PCP. Broke every bone in his hand. See this scar...?"

    Good geekage ;)

  • Tzetrik #17 2 years ago

    This is called damage control after Rogue Warrior from Rebellion.. 'dont worry about avp folks'

  • Zebula77 #18 2 years ago

    Lance Henriksen is one of those always solid, dependable actors. You know this when you see a shit movie and he's the only good thing about it. :p

    I second the Millennium game idea. That would be awesome. Better series than X-Files imo.

  • muscleblade #19 2 years ago

    The first AVP movie is a masterpiece compared to the second no doubdt.

    AVP2 made me ill.

    Alien: 10/10 Best horror movie ever made.
    Aliens: 10/10 Fantastic action movie but not nearly as good as Alien. Still a 10.
    Alien3: 6/10 The CGI and plotholes ruined it.
    Alien:R 3/10 Is this a joke. Better be
    Predator: 10/10
    Predator2: 8/10 I liked it. Danny Glover and Gary Busey did a good job.
    AvP: 6/10: Great looking creatures, but bad plotholes and the pyramid thing was laughable.
    Avp2: 2/10: One of the worst movies ever made using the best franchises ever. Blasfemi.


  • makeamazing #20 2 years ago

    From what ive heard and seen (met him at a show a few years back), he is a great guy, and a good catch for the game. I recognised his voice in MW2, but thought it was someone trying to sound like him..... perhaps its his age :)

  • muscleblade #21 2 years ago

    Its not Weylund btw. Its Weyland.

  • AphoticCosmos #22 2 years ago

    Lance Henriksen is supreme.

    Admiral Hackett is a candidate for most awesome Mass Effect character, despite the fact that he's never even seen.

    This can only make AvP more awesome. I can't wait for it to come out!
    Edited by 1 at 09/12/09 @ 14:13

  • legendmir #23 2 years ago

    he has rly cool hair

  • JeroenZM #24 2 years ago

    What do you mean, they signed Henriksen? They're animals man!

  • azazel_fallenangel #25 2 years ago

    I do wonder what Lance himself thinks when he takes these seemingly unrelated roles in franchises:
    "So I was an android in Aliens, fair enough, but then I'm his creator in Alien3, really, oh yes, I must be human as I had red blood, instead of white, but I'm billed as "Bishop II". Ok but now it's 200 years earlier and I'm the creator of the company, the Bishop from Aliens is moddeled after me, but noone mentions this or seems to recognise me, and the Bloke from Alien3 was also an android, with red food olouring added to his bloodstream, who lies about being human and the designer, and noone mentions how he also looks alot like the CEO...
    maybe he was a decendent, ok fair enough, fans will buy that, but now I'm in the videogame as the charcter in AvP, not the Charecter from Aliens or Alien3, but the videogame is set in the colonial marine era, not 2004 when that charecter died on his first contact with either creature."
    to which I respond:
    "I'm confused..."

  • azazel_fallenangel #26 2 years ago

    Fair point EarlBassett. don't think I would pass it up in all honesty.
    Also, I made a mistake in my rant, which I blame on the article. He doesn't play the role he did in the first AvP film, he plays a descendent. Karl, not Charles. Maybe this will then tie some of my points together then. Hopefully so. Looking foeward to the game.

  • Bitkari #27 2 years ago

    Very cool.

  • AHiFi #28 2 years ago

    Well I'm gonna defend AvsP2. At least it bloody well tried to have proper links that didn't confuse you in comparison to the rest of the series (the music, sweeping jungle to civilisation shot...). Oh and *AvsP:R spoiler* seeing a Predator's world. *spoiler ends*

    ...actually, are you people mad??? Just saying that makes it better than AvsP already which, yes, had good action, but absolutely horrible acting. *AvsP spoiler* Seeing the women and the predator running together too?? Please. *spoiler ends*

    AvsP - Very poor
    AvsP:R - Alright
    Edited by 2 at 09/12/09 @ 17:11

  • tomkuryakin #29 2 years ago

    @EarlBassett

    Are you criticising the man for making a living? A man has to eat, etc. Most actors never make a living from acting, never mind have the kind of career Lance has had. So some of the films weren't that great. So what? You could say the same about Michael Caine, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, or any actor.

  • sega #30 2 years ago

    Bishop's appearance in AVP really annoys me.

    We first saw him in Aliens and then again in Alien 3. However at the end of Alien 3 we see another Bishop - this one says "I'm not the Bishop android, I designed him, I'm very much human". Add to this the fact he bleeds red blood (all androids in the Alien series bleed white) and it's pretty clear the guy who designed Bishop lives hundreds of years in the future.

    However when they make that terrible AVP movie, all of a sudden the Bishop human is alive in our time! It's like they didn't even watch the Alien series before making it. They came up with the idea after (probably when they said "oh crap - he's in Alien 3!" several months after shooting) that the one in the future was actually another android - even though the entirity of his short appearance is him stating he's human and bleeding red blood everywhere to further emphesise the point!

    Alien 3 gets a lot more love these days but, even for those who don't like it, it's a bloody masterpiece compared to AVP. There's no way that film should re-write anything in the classic Alien series. Human Bishop is in the future at the end of Alien 3, AVPjust plain messed up.

  • muscleblade #31 2 years ago

    Alien 3 wasnt a bad movie. It was just the stupid idea that the queen had slipped a couple of eggs in the ship at the last minute without anyone noticing and the incredibly bad CGI that ruined it for me. Otherwise good acting and suspense all the way through.

    AVP:R
    The clip from the Predator homeworld was ok i can agree on that. The rest was garbage though. Loved how the predalien impregnated the women NOT.
    Edited by 1 at 10/12/09 @ 08:21

  • YourMessageHere #32 2 years ago

    AvP2 was hilarious.