While Blade Runner 2049 was a critical darling, it failed to ignite the box office. However, that doesn't mean the franchise is dead, as director Ridley Scott apparently wants to make another film in the series. The man who has recently gone back and revived the flagging Alien film series seemingly has an idea that will see him return to one of his other loved projects following the recent sequel. Scott was asked about the potential for another Blade Runner film and the director of the original entry admitted he's got an idea that's ready for development. According to Scott...
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.
Ridley Scott doesn't go into any particular detail about what his idea is, only that he has one. One also has to wonder if this idea would be a direct sequel following on the events of Blade Runner 2049 or something else. Ridley Scott's return to the Alien franchise came in the form of prequels, which seemed to mostly ignore the sequels that were made by others. One certainly wonders if Scott would do the same thing here. Although, the director recently took credit for the majority of Blade Runner 2049, which would imply that he was ok with the story the film told, even if he thought it was too long.
As far as when we might see such a film, who knows? Ridley Scott tells Digital Spy that his idea is ready to be developed, and also that it needs to evolve, which would seem to indicate that the idea is really just that an idea, which needs work to turn into a full story. That would certainly take time. It's also unclear whether Scott is planning on doing this himself, or if he might give it to somebody else to develop. Scott seemingly still expects to make at least one more Alien movie following the recent Alien: Covenant, though he originally had been planning several more, and if he plans to remain deeply entrenched in the Alien universe it could be another three decades before we see a third Blade Runner movie if Scott wants to do it himself.
Of course, the fact that neither Blade Runner movie has been a box office hit could be a problem for launching a third entry in the series. Somebody has to back the project financially and it may be difficult to find a studio willing to do that with the track record that Blade Runner has.
If there's a new Blade Runner on the horizon, I'll certainly be interested, if only because of how much I loved Blade Runner 2049, length be damned.
