It took the sci-fi sequel Blade Runner 2049 many years to reach the screen, but there's little denying that director Denis Villeneuve did an incredible job of capturing the visuals and atmosphere of Ridley Scott's original 1982 movie. Unfortunately, it wasn't a financial success, and Villeneuve has since moved onto another huge sci-fi project--a new adaptation of the classic novel Dune, However, the director has now revealed he wants to return to the world of Blade Runner.

In a new interview with Empire, Villeneuve explained that he wasn't looking to do another Blade Runner sequel, but a different story set in the same universe. "It's such an inspiring place, the Blade Runner world," he said. "The problem is have is the word 'sequel.' I think cinema needs original stories. But if you ask me if I'd like to revisit this universe in a different way, I can say yes. It would need to be a project on its own. Something disconnected from both other movies. A detective noir story set in the future… I wake up sometimes in the night dreaming about it."

Blade Runner 2049 was released in October 2017. It only made $260 million at the worldwide box office, and it was reported that it could have lost up to $80 million. Scott himself, who was a producer on the film, subsequently described the movie as "slow [and] too long." Nevertheless, it received strong reviews--in his review for GameSpot, Michael Rougeau said it was "as close to a perfect sequel as has ever existed."

As for Dune, that's set to hit theaters on December 18, 2020. Villeneuve has assembled an amazing cast for the movie, including Timothy Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Stellan Skarsgård, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, and Dave Bautista. There's also a Dune TV spin-off in the works, titled Dune: The Sisterhood, but Villeneuve isn't involved with this.