During a recent interview with IGN just ahead of the 35th anniversary of ‘Blade Runner,’ (June 25th) Ridley Scott revealed that he may just be interested in making more ‘Blade Runner’ movies after ‘2049,’ being intrigued with the idea of expanding his universes once he started doing it with ‘Alien.’ And with the world of ‘Blade Runner’ being as expansive as it is, and not necessarily dependent on one or two characters, there is a whole world of possibilities for future sequels that could take place in that universe.
Scott also gave a quote about admiring George Lucas and the ‘Star Wars’ sequels that, out of context, seems a little ludicrous, until you remember that he is talking about the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy from the 80s and not the downward spiral that was the prequel trilogy of the early 2000s.
“Yes. I think that, you know what, George has always proved that. Of course there’s always something. George Lucas. You know, and the way he’s handled Star Wars has been spectacular. It’s what I’ve been trying to do to really evolve Alien, because in those days I wasn’t into making sequels, but now suddenly you realize, ‘Well, that’s stupid.’ I’ll use the word ‘duh’ again, right? You’d better get into sequels, duh. So, that’s in a way what I’ve been doing.”
I believe his point was that back in the eighties he saw no point in doing sequels even though George Lucas was doing them so well, and now he sees the light. Sadly, George Lucas forgot how to make good movies and went on to make Episode I-III of ‘Star Wars’ and Scott waited so long to do his sequels that many of his original cast members have aged out of the roles. Still, there is hope, as ‘Alien: Covenant’ did alright at the box-office, and ‘Blade Runner 2049’ looks like it could be amazing, so perhaps Scott taking his time on these franchises is not necessarily a bad thing. Really, it all depends on how ‘Blade Runner 2049’ does this fall.
What are your thoughts here? Is Scott wrong to suddenly give up on new ideas and focus on franchising his old ones? Should he just leave his classics alone? Share your opinions in the comments below!
