Will Ridley Scott direct Blade Runner 2 or Prometheus 2, after he finishes work on The Martian (the big screen adaptation of Andy Weir’s popular space survival novel) in 2015? That’s been the question for the past several months, though the filmmaker recently appeared to rule himself out as helmsman on the Blade Runner sequel. However, the director has since revealed that this decision is not set in stone… not just yet, anyway.

Scott co-developed the script for Blade Runner 2 alongside Hampton Fancher – the screenwriter on Scott’s original touchstone Philip K. Dick sci-fi film adaptation – before the screenplay was revised by Michael Green (Heroes, Green Lantern). The movie now has a shooting script draft finished and ready for production; Scott recently confirmed the sequel involves Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard in a limited capacity, and previously claimed that the story will “definitely” include a female protagonist.

The Blade Runner 2 screenplay is in excellent shape according to Scott, when he was interviewed by Yahoo! Movies for his new film, Exodus: Gods and Kings (which opens in theaters next week). However, due to the nature of the project, he admitted “I don’t know about [not directing 'Blade Runner 2'] yet”; furthermore, he said that he isn’t sure about who else could be recruited for the job, instead.

“The ['Blade Runner 2'] script is very, very good. Very good. I wouldn’t know [what sort of director we’d want]. It’s a hard one to track because it’s a very personal piece of my work. [‘Blade Runner’] may be one of the most personal pieces I did. I got so beaten up for it, I said I’d never try that again. But here we are. It’s sitting there ready to be made.”

On the one hand, there are many Blade Runner fans who’ve voiced their desire to see Scott at the helm of the sequel; not only because he was responsible for bringing this sci-fi cinema world to life in the first place, but also because of how involved he’s been with developing the followup. There’s an argument to be made that part of the reason that Prometheus is such a contentious work is because Scott had to project his own vision of the film atop its original form – much as a different director would have to do with Blade Runner 2 – and to avoid a repeat with the Blade Runner followup, it should be Scott who sees it through to the very end.

… On the other hand, though, Scott’s recent films (see: Robin Hood, Prometheus, The Counselor and, judging by the first wave of reviews, now Exodus: Gods and Kings) have tended to leave something to be desired for many moviegoers; and thus, it could be for the better if a different filmmaker came in, with a fresh vision for continuing the Blade Runner story more than thirty years later (seeing as general confidence in Scott’s movie storytelling skills continues to erode).

Could Blade Runner 2 re-energize Scott’s filmmaking batteries? It’s certainly possible, of course, and Scott concluded his Yahoo! interview by saying “We’re getting close” to a final decision about who will be leading the project forward; by that point, we should also have a better idea of what’s going on with the Prometheus sequel, too.

We’ll bring you more news on Blade Runner 2 when we have it.