Original Blade Runner Screenwriter to Reteam with Ridley Scott for Sequel

Posted by on May 18th, 2012   Filed under: Action, Drama, Sci-fi
Source: Coming Soon

With the release of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus now less than a month away, we’ve got an update on an upcoming project that will allow him to revisit another one of his seminal early works. Last summer we were all shocked when it was announced that Scott had signed on to direct a new Blade Runner movie, although at the time it was unclear if it would end up being a sequel, prequel or just a spin-off. This week it has been confirmed that the movie is indeed a sequel, and one of the original film’s screenwriters will be returning to help him continue the story. Unfortunately, it looks like the earlier rumours of Harrison Ford starring in the film are probably not accurate. They’ve got a new protagonist in mind and her name is not Rick Deckard.

According to a press release from Warner Brothers, screenwriter Hampton Fancher is in talks to reunite with Ridley Scott to develop an idea for the Blade Runner sequel that will “take place some years after the first film concluded.” Although the movie was originally adapted from Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, they had conceived of it as the first in a series of films. Fancher is still primarily known as an actor, but in the years following Blade Runner, he wrote the script for The Mighty Quinn and also wrote and directed a movie called The Minus Man.

Interestingly, the other person who helped write Blade Runner, David Webb Peoples does not appear to be involved. It could be seen as a bit of a snub, especially considering that he wrote the 1998 movie Soldier and claimed to have set it in the same world as Blade Runner. Peoples had also been collaborating with Ridley Scott on a script for The Forever War a couple of years ago.

Now, the other interesting bit of news is that Ridley Scott recently told The Daily Beast that the movie will feature a female protagonist. I suppose Harrison Ford could still have a role in the film, but it appears that he won’t be the lead. It’s still unclear where Blade Runner 2 will fit into Scott’s schedule, but for the moment, his next movie is going to be Cormac McCarthy’s The Counselor. What do you think, does this news make you more or less excited for a Blade Runner sequel?



  • Colin

    Not excited until I see Prometheus and see how Scott’s sci-fi chops have aged.

  • rjdelight

    I can’t believe this is actually happening. Not that I’m against it, just that it’s been talked about for so many years, and of all the rumored-sequels out there I never thought this was one that would get made.

  • Scott Harrigan

    I am very ambivalent about this film. On the one hand, I love Ridley Scott. He is an excellent director and Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies of all time. On the other hand, I have seen how far a director can fall from grace when revisiting decades old work. Judging from Prometheus so far, it seems he has not lost his awesome aesthetic style.

    http://www.videodetective.com/movies/prometheus/236966#.T7bCqeuWclc

    Blade Runner is not a movie that needed a sequel, but I am very cautiously optimistic.

  • Noah Sol

    If Prometheus is shit then I’ll start to get concerned about this.

  • BarBar

    So long as he doesn’t bring Russell along I’ll give it a chance

  • Tomoo

    As someone who has never seen Blade Runner which version is THE version to see?

  • patrik

    #6 Final Cut blu-ray

  • Brendan

    @Tomoo & patrik: I’m still partial to The Director’s Cut over the Final Cut, but those two are better than the theatrical release. I think it’s just that I’ve watched The Director’s Cut so many times, it’s ingrained in my mind as the “real” version. The Final Cut does clean up a few more things and expand a few others compared to The Director’s Cut.

    I did see the theatrical cut first, however, and I think it actually made me appreciate The Director’s Cut more. So I don’t know if seeing any of them first over the other versions is necessarily bad. For example, you may not appreciate the changes made unless you know what they are.

  • tml

    C’mon Fancher…show me…what you’re made of.

    Minus Man blows me away. And you wrote and directed.