Ridley Scott Admits He Regrets Turning Down ‘Blade Runner’ Sequel to Direct ‘Alien: Covenant’

Even legendary directors like Ridley Scott can admit when they’ve made a mistake.

During a recent interview with Empire (per Deadline), the Napoleon director said that he “should have” signed on to direct Blade Runner 2049 — the 2017 sequel to his 1982 sci-fi cult classic Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford — but it just didn’t go that way.

“I shouldn’t have had to make that decision,” said Scott, 85. “But I had to. I should have done Blade Runner 2.”

Instead, he made Alien: Covenant, a sequel to his 2012 film Prometheus. The latter film holds a 65% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while Blade Runner 2049 — which saw the return of Ford, 81, as Rick Deckard, and also starred Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas and Jared Leto, among others — is rated at 88%. Blade Runner 2049 was ultimately directed by Denis Villeneuve (Dune).

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Above: still from Montreal director Denis Villeneuve’s new feature, Blade Runner 2049. The Ridley Scott produced film opens the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma on October 4, 2017.
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. and Alcon Entertainment

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Scott will be back on the Blade Runner train with the upcoming Prime Video series Blade Runner 2099, which he is set to executive produce, Deadline reported last September.

“I’m one of the producers,” he told Empire in his more recent interview, according to Deadline. “It’s all set years on. To me, it circles the idea of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.”

In a September statement obtained by Deadline, Amazon Studios’ head of global television Vernon Sanders said of the upcoming project, “The original Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, is considered one of the greatest and most influential science-fiction movies of all time, and we’re excited to introduce Blade Runner 2099 to our global Prime Video customers.”

“We are honored to be able to present this continuation of the Blade Runner franchise, and are confident that by teaming up with Ridley, Alcon Entertainment, Scott Free Productions, and the remarkably talented Silka Luisa, Blade Runner 2099 will uphold the intellect, themes, and spirit of its film predecessors,” Sanders added.

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Back in January 2018, Scott told Digital Spy that he had another story in mind following 1982’s Blade Runner, which was based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

“I think there is another story. I’ve got another one ready to evolve and be developed, so there is certainly one to be done for sure,” the House of Gucci director revealed.

Scott later said in a November 2021 interview with Variety that he was developing “a 10-episode series” based on the films, and that the pilot was already written.

“We’re already presenting Blade Runner as a TV show, the first 10 hours,” he said.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education