With Blade Runner hitting its 35 anniversary this coming weekend, Ridley Scott says he's looking to take a page from the Star Wars saga and wants to expand the Blade Runner franchise into a larger cinematic universe beyond the upcoming Villeneuve project. Much like he's currently attempting to do with the Alien saga, Ridley wants to produce more films past Blade Runner 2049. When speaking with IGN about the film's anniversary he had this to say about the way Lucas handled the Star Wars brand:
“Yes. I think that, you know what, George has always proved that. Of course there’s always something. George Lucas. You know, and the way he’s handled Star Wars has been spectacular. It’s what I’ve been trying to do to really evolve Alien, because in those days I wasn’t into making sequels, but now suddenly you realize, ‘Well, that’s stupid.’ I’ll use the word ‘duh’ again, right? You’d better get into sequels, duh. So, that’s in a way what I’ve been doing.”
Considering the level of negativity spouted towards Covenant and Prometheus, this might be a hard path to follow. Critics have basically panned both films and Covenant was a domestic box office bomb. Expanding on Blade Runner might currently seem like a good idea, but he may need to wait until the sequel is released to start planning another expanded franchise.