Ridley Scott is developing live-action spin-off television adaptations of two of his most acclaimed sci-fi movie series, Blade Runner and Alien. The filmmaker confirmed the news while he appeared on the BBC’s popular radio program, Today Show, earlier yesterday, Variety is reporting.
During the interview, the helmer-producer, whose latest movie, House of Gucci, is being released in theaters tomorrow by MGM, hinted that the Blade Runner television adaptation is being planned as a 10-episode show. “We [have already] written the pilot for Blade Runner and the bible. So, we’re already presenting Blade Runner as a TV show, the first 10 hours.”
Scott hasn’t previously discussed the possibility of adapting Blade Runner into a live-action television series. But rumors that the film was being adapted into a show began circulating in September after Alcon Entertainment co-founder and co-CEO, Andrew Kosove revealed that employees at the company have been tasked with figuring out ways to further build the Blade Runner universe. His revelation came after he served as a producer on director Denis Villeneuve’s Oscar-winning 2017 sequel to the original movie, Blade Runner 2049.
“We have two people who work for us at Alcon whose – I wouldn’t say it’s their full-time job, [but] it’s the majority of their job,” to work on the television adaptation, the production company’s co-CEO said. “[They take it] really seriously, interweaving the different stories and making sure the timelines, the canon, the character motivations are all seamless and have a logic within the canon.
“Our goal at Alcon, because we’re the keeper of the Blade Runner IP, and therefore we take the canon of the franchise very seriously, because the fans, of which there are so many, have invested so much of themselves in the material,” Kosove added.
The live-action adaptation is the second television series to be based on the Blade Runner films. An anime show based on the movie franchise, which is titled Blade Runner: Black Lotus, premiered earlier this month on Adult Swim.
The Academy Award-nominated Scott also revealed that the Alien television series is getting a similar treatment. A pilot has been developed, along with a bible of what will lead into an additional 8-10 hours of the show.
The news of the Alien television adaptation was first announced in December of last year. Fargo writer-director-executive producer-creator, Noah Hawley is set to serve as the showrunner on Alien, which is being developed for FX.
The cable network’s chairman, John Landgraf described the television adaptation of the Oscar-winning franchise last year as “the first Alien story set on Earth – and by blending both the timeless horror of the first Alien film with the non-stop action of the second, it’s going to be a scary thrill ride that will blow people back in their seats.”
During the Today Show interview, host Mishal Husain also asked Scott about the criticism House of Gucci has recently faced from the titular family. The biographic crime drama, which is based on the 2001 book of the same name by Sara Gay Forden, chronicles the story of the ill-fated romance between Patrizia Reggiani and Maurizio Gucci that ends in the latter’s murder,
Patrizia Gucci, the great-grandchild of Guccio Gucci, told the Associated Press in April that the movie was “stealing the identity of a family to make a profit, to increase the income of the Hollywood system.”
“It was about murder. They forget: He was murdered,” Scott said.
“One of the brothers went to jail for tax evasion. Don’t talk to me about making a profit. When you do that, you tend to become public domain.”