Filmmaker Ridley Scott is 86 years old and can look back on a long career, but also regrets decisions and lost opportunitiesThis especially applies to the sci-fi sequels to his masterpieces Alien and Blade Runner, which he recently talked about in an interview.
Why now? Because Gladiator 2 is just around the corner (film release: November 14, 2024), for which Scott took the director’s chair again 20 years after the original to avoid making the same mistake again.
Sci-fi legend Ridley Scott would have loved to have made Alien 2 and Blade Runner 2
Before the launch of Gladiator 2, Scott spoke to Vanity Fair and said:
I had a slow start. I mean, I should have made the sequels to Alien and Blade Runner. You change over the years. At the time, I didn’t want to go through that again. That’s why James Cameron came in – and then David Fincher – for Alien.
Looking back, he would also have preferred to tackle Blade Runner 2 himself. At the same time, however, Scott also has praise for his younger successor Denis Villeneuve, who many years later delivered Blade Runner 2049: “I regretted it, but he did a good job.”
Twentieth Century Fox Germany
Ridley Scott on the set of Alien: Covenant
The first official pictures of his Gladiator sequel were recently released and show Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal as successors to original star Russell Crowe.
Sci-Fi sequels given away: Unintentional or not done well?
Scott seems to be undecided about whether he didn’t want to make the futuristic sequels, as mentioned above, or whether he was not allowed to. He continues:
I am the author of two franchises. Most directors in Hollywood – at least at my level – don’t let go of things like that. But I made Alien as my second film and I had no choice. And Blade Runner was my third film. So I had no choice, I had very tough partners. It was a bit like, ‘Welcome to Hollywood.’
When asked specifically about the sci-fi sequels that were given away in the 80s, Scott then said: “I was never asked or asked. You can imagine, I was not happy about it.”
Years later, Scott was given the opportunity to return to the Alien franchise and contributed to Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. It is highly questionable whether fans would have wanted to swap James Cameron’s great sequel Aliens for his potential Alien 2.