Ridley Scott was once attached to direct Blade Runner 2049, but when the time finally came to shoot the sequel, Scott dropped out to focus on Alien: Covenant and Denis Villeneuve was picked to replace him. Looking back, Scott told Vanity Fair that it’s a choice he still regrets.
“I was regretful,” Scott said. “Although [Denis Villeneuve] did a good job.” Although Blade Runner 2049 was praised by critics, it did bomb at the box office, dooming any potential sequel. However, the franchise will soon be revived with Blade Runner 2099, a TV series for Prime Video which Scott is executive producing.
For his part, Villeneuve has said that he has no desire to make a sequel to another director’s work again. “So 2049 was really a love letter to the first film, but it was by far one of the most difficult projects I’ve ever done, and I don’t think I will ever approach someone else’s universe again,” Villeneuve said. “I still wake up sometimes at night, saying, ‘Why did I do that?’ I’d declined a few other projects of that scale, but at the time, I said to myself, ‘It’s a crazy project, but it’s worth the risk of losing everything.’“
Ridley Scott also told Vanity Fair that he was “never asked” to return to direct any of the Alien sequels following the release of the first movie. “I’m the author of two franchises,” Scott said. “Most directors in Hollywood — certainly, let’s say, at my level — don’t let that stuff go. But I did ‘Alien’ as my second movie, so I didn’t have much choice. And ‘Blade Runner‘ was my third movie. So, I had no choice because I had very tough partners. It was kind of ‘Welcome to Hollywood.’“
“I was slow out the starting gate,” Scott continued. “I mean, I should have done the sequels to ‘Alien’ and to ‘Blade Runner.’ You change over the years. At that time, I didn’t want to go through it again. So Jim Cameron came in — and then David Fincher — on ‘Alien.’ I was never told or asked. You can imagine I wasn’t happy.” Scott did eventually return to the franchise with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, but he has handed over the reins to Fede Álvarez for the upcoming Alien: Romulus.
Would you have liked to have seen Ridley Scott direct Blade Runner 2049?