Ridley Scott has confirmed he will no longer direct the sequel to Blade Runner, instead opting to serve as a producer. The veteran British director revealed the news during an interview with Variety to promote his latest movie, Exodus: Gods and Kings.

Ridley ScottRidley Scott will no longer direct the Blade Runner sequel

Scott also stated that Harrison Ford will still be appearing in the sequel (reprising his role as Rick Deckard) but that the character will not appear until the film’s third act. “Harrison is very much part of this one, but really it’s about finding him; he comes in in the third act,” he told Variety. “It makes sense in terms of how it relates to the first one.”

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The sequel is expected to move into production within the next year, working from a script by Fantastic Four and The Green Lantern writer Michael Green, who was brought in to rework Hampton Fancher’s original offering.

The movie comes 32 years after the original Blade Runner film hit screens back in 1982. Based on Philip K Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, at the time of its release the film polarised critics, but went on to be remembered as a ‘cult classic’.

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In 1992 a director’s cut of the film was release in which Scott removed the Harrison Ford voiceover as well as the “happy ending”, which were said to have been done under the studio’s orders, but the director himself hated. The upcoming sequel is thought to be focusing on a new set of younger 'blade runners' who will seek out Ford’s character.