The first trailer for Blade Runner 2049 was filled with familiar imagery from Ridley Scott's original 1982 film – giant neon advertisements, a smoggy noirish future ... Harrison Ford. But it wouldn't have been nearly as potent a nostalgia injection if it hadn't been bathed in the original's warm, buzzy, synthesiser hymn by Vangelis.

The Greek composer, 74, wasn't asked to score the sequel – that job fell to Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch, who co-composed a score with traces of Vangelis for Dunkirk – but he said he would have turned it down regardless.

Nostalgia trip: Vangelis' musical shadow looms over Blade Runner 2049. Credit:AP

"Ridley is not the director," he said in an interview last year. "In case I could have done it, it should have been with Ridley. I hope that this film is going to be very, very good, but I knew it instinctively that this is done for me."

Still, Vangelis' musical shadow looms over the new film. The glacial synth chords that opened the 1982 epic are as iconic as the fiery, dystopian effects they accompanied, the jazz noir love theme as integral to the experience as Scott's visual composition – perhaps even more, according to the director.