Ridley Scott Regrets Turning Down Directing ‘Blade Runner 2049’ for ‘Alien: Covenant’

Ridley Scott is opining his “Blade Runner” regrets.

The director, who helmed the original 1982 film starring Harrison Ford, stepped away from directing the 2017 sequel “Blade Runner 2049” due to a scheduling conflict with “Alien: Covenant,” a franchise installment for his “Alien” series.

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“I shouldn’t have had to make that decision,” Scott told Empire. “But I had to. I should have done ‘Blade Runner 2.'”

Scott served as an executive producer on “Blade Runner 2049,” with Denis Villeneuve directing. The film went on to win Oscars for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, and Best Cinematography for Roger Deakins. Director Villeneuve admitted that “Blade Runner 2049” was a film that “flirted with disaster” due to its large budget and lackluster box office, grossing less than $100 million against its reported $300 production and marketing costs.

“I knew that when I did this movie I flirted with disaster,” Villeneuve said during the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast in 2021. “I put myself into massive artistic danger. That was walking, as Christopher Nolan said to me once…walking on sacred territory. It’s true. It was sacrilegious what I did. I was told, ‘You don’t do that.’ Just the fact that I’m still here making movies, for me…at least I wasn’t banned from the filmmaker community. It was a dangerous game…With ‘Blade Runner’ I had to be respectful of Ridley Scott’s masterpiece. It was more an act of love.”

Scott returns to the “Blade Runner” realm with upcoming Prime Video limited series “Blade Runner 2099,” which is set in the vein of “Brave New World.” Scott will produce the 10-episode show with Jeremy Podeswa (“Game of Thrones”) directing the pilot and Silka Luisa (“Shining Girls”) as the showrunner.

Meanwhile, Scott is returning to more of his iconic filmography with “Gladiator 2,” starring Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, and Barry Keoghan. As for “Alien,” original lead actress Sigourney Weaver said she is done with the franchise, despite Scott voicing his desire for a follow-up film titled “Alien: Awakening,” as reported in 2019. “Awakening” would be the third prequel film leading into the initial “Alien” plotline.

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