Some filmmakers like to drop little hints that some or even all of their films exist in a shared universe. The most obvious examples of this are the films of Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino as well as the Marvel Studios superhero films.
But is Ridley Scott silently creating a cohesive future history with his own science-fiction films? He could be based on this screenshot from the blu-ray release of Prometheus, Scott’s latest film. We know that the film is a functioning prequel to the Alien series, which Scott launched, but it appears now that it is also linked to his 1980 science-fiction classic Blade Runner.
Let’s look at the facts. Blade Runner is set in 2019. Prometheus is set seventy years later in 2089. The writer of the memo is Peter Weyland (Guy Pierce), who, given his advanced age in Prometheus, could very well be over 100. And it is very obvious to anyone who has seen Blade Runner (And you have, haven’t you?) that the memo is referring to the Blade Runner character of Dr. Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel).
This wouldn’t be the first time that a creator retro-actively included several thought to be separate works into a shared universe. Towards the end of his career, science-fiction grandmaster Isaac Asimov managed to link his up-until-that-point individual Robot and Galactic Empire/Foundation series of short stories and novels.
Granted, this could just be the inclusion of a joke by a graphics designer on the film, but there is a certain amount of fun in the thought that the two are actually related. And with Scott actively developing both Prometheus and Blade Runner follow-ups, perhaps we’ll see more connections in the future.
Via Live For Films.
