Ridley Scott Still Wishes He Got to Make Alien and Blade Runner Sequels

Ridley Scott has had to see his landmark sci-fi films Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982) get handled by new visionary directors, with Dune director Denis Villeneuve directing the 2017 sequel film Blade Runner 2049 , and director Fede Alvarez bringing Alien: Romulus to theaters this year. Alien: Romulus is a spiritual sequel to Scott's original Alien film, which will see a group of young, would-be space-raiders board a ship that's infested with Xenomorphs. The new Alien film has a lot of fans looking back at the original film again - including Sir Ridley Scott himself.

In a new interview with Vanity Fair about his upcoming sequel to Gladiator (2000) , Ridley Scott spoke candidly about his career and the film industry. The acclaimed filmmaker is now willing to admit that shepherding his groundbreaking films into larger franchises was a missed opportunity:

"I was slow out the starting gate," Scott explained. "I mean, I should have done the sequels to Alien and to Blade Runner. You change over the years. At that time, I didn't want to go through it again. So Jim Cameron came in--and then David Fincher--on Alien. "

Scott revealed that producers and/or studios like Warner Bros. ( Blade Runner ) and 20th Century Fox ( Alien ) didn't give him any choice on what happened with sequels:

"I'm the author of two franchises. Most directors in Hollywood--certainly, let's say, at my level--don't let that stuff go," Scott continued. "But I did Alien as my second movie, so I didn't have much choice. And Blade Runner was my third movie. So, I had no choice because I had very tough partners. It was kind of 'Welcome to Hollywood.'"

Alien proceeded to become a franchise universe with three sequel films and two crossover films (with the Predator films) before Ridley Scott got the reigns back for the 2012 prequel film, Prometheus . It's a part of the business that Ridley Scott is still feeling raw about:

"I was never told or asked," he said, in regards to how sequels to his films were handled. "You can imagine I wasn't happy."

When it came to the subject of Blade Runner 2049 , Scott admitted he was happy with the choice of director to carry the franchise, even while he was sad it wasn't him: "I was regretful, although he [Denis Villeneuve] did a good job."

Alien: Romulus has a theatrical release date of August 16th.