"You Can Imagine I Wasn't Happy:" Why Ridley Scott Didn't Direct The Sequels To 2 Of His Most Successful Movies

Ridley Scott’s early-career sci-fi classics Alien and Blade Runner both ended up launching franchises, but Scott didn’t direct either of the sequels himself. If you need any evidence that Scott is a one-of-a-kind visionary filmmaker, just consider that Alien and Blade Runner, two of the greatest and most singularly crafted movies ever made, were just his second and third films after his debut feature, The Duellists. Alien introduced one of the scariest movie monsters of all time, while Blade Runner pioneered a whole new subgenre of science fiction by bringing film noir tropes into a futuristic setting.

Both Alien and Blade Runner established fascinating sci-fi worlds for sequels and spinoffs to explore. Alien introduced a grimy future where intergalactic truckers encounter unspeakable terrors on foreign planets, and Blade Runner introduced a slick, neon-drenched future where androids are indistinguishable from humans and trigger-happy detectives are indistinguishable from androids. But despite being the legendary director behind both of them, Scott didn’t direct the sequels to either of them. Both of those stories were continued by a different filmmaker, and there’s a curious reason why Scott didn’t come back to helm the sequels.

Ridley Scott Was Never Asked To Direct Sequels To Alien Or Blade Runner

Scott Was Pretty New To Hollywood Filmmaking At The Time

While he was promoting the release of Gladiator II last year, Scott opened up about why he didn’t direct the sequels to Alien and Blade Runner. The director said that, in retrospect, he “should have done” the sequels to his sci-fi masterpieces, but that’s not the way he felt back when he first made them. After Alien was a box office success, 20th Century Fox executives were eager to get a sequel into development. But, having just gone through the laborious process of making a suspenseful sci-fi spectacle, Scott “didn’t want to go through it again.”

So, the reins of the Alien sequel were handed to James Cameron, who pivoted to the action genre and made Aliens, one of the greatest sequels in film history. After the success of Aliens, the third film was given to David Fincher for his feature-length directorial debut (and, by all accounts, he had a nightmarish experience under the thumb of meddling studio executives). While he admitted that Denis Villeneuve “did a good job” with Blade Runner 2049, Scott now feels “regretful” that he didn’t direct the sequel to Blade Runner himself.

While he admitted that Denis Villeneuve “did a good job” with Blade Runner 2049, Scott now feels “regretful” that he didn’t direct the sequel to Blade Runner himself.

Scott said that, while he’s the “author” of the Alien and Blade Runner franchises, he didn’t have much say in what happened with them. According to Scott, most directors would hold on dearly to a franchise they started, like George Lucas with Star Wars or James Wan with The Conjuring Universe. But since Alien was just his second film and Blade Runner was just his third — and both were produced with “very tough partners” — back then, Scott “didn’t have much choice.” When the sequels went into development, Scott was “never told or asked” if he wanted to direct them.

How Ridley Scott Eventually Returned To The Alien Franchise

Scott Came Back To Direct The Alien Prequel Movies

After Cameron’s Aliens, Fincher’s Alien 3, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien Resurrection, the Alien franchise went on hiatus for a decade and a half. The first two films had been hailed as masterpieces of their respective genres, but the reception soured after that. Alien 3 received mixed reviews and Alien Resurrection was panned by critics. Finally, Scott was able to come back and direct another film in the Alien franchise — except this one wasn’t a sequel; it was a prequel. 2012’s Prometheus went back to explore the origin story of the bloodthirsty xenomorphs.

Ridley Scott has a new Alien movie in development.

This decision was met with some backlash, because it could be argued that the xenomorphs didn’t need an origin story. What made them so terrifying in the first place is that they were just a random lifeform lurking out there in the cosmos. It weakened that terror to introduce the notion that they were genetically engineered to be humanity’s worst enemy. But nevertheless, Prometheus was a stunning sci-fi epic with gorgeous visuals, horrifying body horror sequences (like Elizabeth Shaw’s self-abortion procedure), and a thought-provoking Biblical allegory examining the inception of the human race.

After Prometheus became a commercial hit, Scott followed it up with another Alien prequel film, Alien: Covenant, the second in a planned trilogy. Alien: Covenant saw a ship full of space colonists answering a mysterious beacon on a distant planet and unwittingly stumbling across the android David’s experimentation with xenomorphs, which had been set up at the end of Prometheus. After Prometheus had been a lofty, philosophical epic, Covenant marked a return to the franchise’s horror roots, with mixed results. Ultimately, it underperformed at the box office, so the third Alien prequel was scrapped (although it may still get made).

Why Blade Runner 2049 Happened So Long After The Original (Without Ridley Scott)

Blade Runner Initially Wasn’t A Box Office Hit

While Alien got a sequel within a decade of the original film, Blade Runner’s sequel arrived a whopping 35 years after the first one. The reason it took 35 years for Blade Runner to get a sequel is that it took 35 years for Hollywood to see Blade Runner as a viable franchise. Unlike Alien, Blade Runner wasn’t an immediate success, critically or commercially. Contemporary critics didn’t quite get it, so the reviews were mixed, and it was released alongside Steven Spielberg’s heartwarming blockbuster E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, so it effectively got buried at the box office.

It wasn’t until years later that Blade Runner began to gain traction as a cult classic. The 1992 release of Scott’s director’s cut, restoring his original vision, mᴀssively helped the film’s reputation, as it removed the on-the-nose voiceover narration and incongruous happy ending that the studio tacked on. It wasn’t until 2017, when legacy sequels were all the rage and Harrison Ford had reprised his role as Han Solo to blockbuster success, that the studios finally took a chance on a Blade Runner sequel. Sadly, history repeated itself. Blade Runner 2049 bombed, but it’s quickly become a cult classic.

Gladiator 2 Broke Ridley Scott’s Unusual Sequel Trend

Scott Finally Made A Direct Sequel To One Of His Classics

When Scott released Gladiator II last year, it finally broke his unique sequel trend. After the sequels to Alien and Blade Runner were helmed by other directors, Scott finally spearheaded a direct sequel to one of his most influential movies. And not only that, Scott is already working on Gladiator III. But, while it was well-received, Gladiator II’s reviews didn’t reach the heights of Aliens or Blade Runner 2049, so maybe sequels to Ridley Scott movies actually benefit from having a pair of fresh eyes behind them.