This coming Monday will mark 35 years since the sci-fi classic Blade Runner was released. The date was June 25, 1982, and of course the genre was changed forever from then on, as director Ridley Scott and star Harrison Ford took us on a journey to the beautiful yet terrifying world of Los Angeles, 2019 -- a world of Replicants and futuristic private dicks and cold fish (though in the latter case, only in the theatrical cut!).

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And now we’ll soon be returning to that world when Blade Runner 2049 is released this fall. To celebrate the anniversary of the original film as well as the upcoming sequel, I recently spoke to Ridley Scott about the legacy of Blade Runner and where he hopes to take the series in 2049 -- including his confirmation that there could be more sequels beyond that film. Ford returns in the film as former Blade Runner Rick Deckard, with Ryan Gosling also starring as Officer K, and Scott executive-producing while Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) directs.But before we get to my chat with Ridley Scott, take a look at this behind-the-scenes piece on Blade Runner 2049 which also features brand new footage from the film:

Blade Runner 2049 Photos 44 IMAGES

“ It was medieval meets technology. ... And so it was an amazing environment, and that stuck in my mind.

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“ The hunter falls in love with his quarry.

The iconic city-scape of the original Blade Runner

Yeah, I mean -- you know, by the time I would start making movies, I was 40. I was a very, very successful commercial maker. So, you know, we were already pretty ingrained into it, New York, London, and the Far East. And so I traveled a lot, shooting everywhere, and I spent a bit of time shooting in Hong Kong before the first skyscraper ever was going up, the Bank of Hong Kong. So when I was in Hong Kong shooting, it was -- Christ, it was medieval, right? It was medieval meets technology. And medieval meets electronics. And they were making everything from cameras to sound stuff and selling it in their boxes and God knows what else. The junks in the harbor, when I was there, there had got to be 200 junks in the harbor.And so it was an amazing environment, and that stuck in my mind. It kind of influenced me in that direction, in terms of what will the populace be in the time that Blade Runner’s [set] in. It's not quite accurate, because 2017, we're nearly there. Well, we are there. And it's not Chinese at all. But there's a lot of mixed cultures … But I think that's one of the big things about it, was also I was spending a lot of time going to New York. That particular moment in the ’60s and ’70s, I did a lot of commercials.Immediately, I talked to him on the phone and he went, “Oh, s#!t, not again.” He still walks the walk, talks the talk. And from our first meeting, which was about a week and a bit, we formed a very nice, almost a 100-page novella, which tells the whole story of where we will be today. It's good. Very nice.Yeah, the hunter falls in love with his quarry. And from that, this quarry is in a world of, you know, Philip K. Dick where they have very expensive things like very expensive jewelry, like with a digital, mechanized, beautiful jeweled snake that works. You can have a sheep in your house. Very weird choices. But interesting. So it's about a world of extremes, and I said if we've got this, we've got to go outside and see what the hell it's like outside, so that's how it evolved.Well, that's always the challenge. So I knew what the sequel could be because, having made the first one, I used to sit and think [how] there’s a very obvious choice. And that choice always sat there, and at one stage I'd gone to somebody else saying, “We should actually do this.” And they said, “Well, we think the first one should be left alone because it worked.” I said, “Well, I think you've got another way to go with this thing.” And eventually our contract got bought. But in buying it, they asked me first, “Is there a story?” So I was able to say, “Of course there is.”Oh, it was always my thesis theory. It was one or two people who were relevant were... I can't remember if Hampton agreed with me or not. But I remember someone had said, “Well, isn't it corny?” I said, “Listen, I'll be the best f#@king judge of that. I'm the director, okay?” So, and that, you learn -- you know, by then I'm 44, so I'm no f#@king chicken. I'm a very experienced director from commercials and The Duellists and Alien. So, I'm able to, you know, answer that with confidence at the time, and say, “You know, back off, it's what it's gonna be.” Harrison, he was never -- I don't remember, actually. I think Harrison was going, “Uh, I don't know about that.” I said, “But you have to be, because Gaff, who leaves a trail of origami everywhere, will leave you a little piece of origami at the end of the movie to say, ‘I've been here, I left her alive, and I can't resist letting you know what's in your most private thoughts when you get drunk is a f#@king unicorn!’” Right? So, I love Beavis and Butthead, so what should follow that is “Duh.” So now it will be revealed [in the sequel], one way or the other.Read on for more from Ridley Scott on Blade Runner past, present and future...