Harrison Ford's potential involvement in a mooted sequel to Blade Runner has been the subject of speculation for years.
Two years ago, Alcon Entertainment revealed that director Ridley Scott was planning a follow-up to the 1982 cult sci-fi movie. The production companysaid the film would be a prequel or sequel, rather than a remake of the seminal original - which was based on the 1968 Philip K Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Ford played the lead role of Rick Deckard in the movie, who is tasked with hunting down a gang of replicants (android outlaws).
"It would be a gross understatement to say that we are elated Ridley Scott will shepherd this iconic story into a new, exciting direction," producers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove said in a statement at the time.
And one Ford would probably not be involved with, according to Kosove.
"In no way do I speak for Ridley Scott, but if you're asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford? The answer is no," Kosove told the Los Angeles Times in August 2011.
"This is a total reinvention, and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting."
"When we made the first announcement there was a lot of scepticism, understandably. And now with Ridley coming back there's a greater level of comfort," he asserted. "And once we have the writer, I think fans will feel even more comfortable."
He added, "We want people to know that we're very serious about doing this in an artistic way. This isn't just commercial fodder."
Fast-forward to May 2012, and Scott himself suggested that Ford would be involved in a follow-up movie.
"I don't think it'll be Harry [starring]," Scott said in an interview with the Independent. "But I've got to have him in it somewhere. That'd be amusing."
Scott also revealed that the sequel would boast a female lead.
A still picture from the movie Bladerunner starring Harrison Ford and Daryl Hannah.
"Funny enough, I started my first meetings on the Blade Runner sequel last week," he dished to The Daily Beast while plugging Prometheus.
"We have a very good take on it. And we'll definitely be featuring a female protagonist."
He also commented late last year: "It's not a rumour - [the sequel is] happening. With Harrison Ford? I don't know yet. Is he too old? Well, he was a Nexus-6 so we don't know how long he can live. And that's all I'm going to say at this stage."
So what's the latest on Ford's potential involvement?
While promoting his latest flick Ender's Game in London this week, Ford revealed that he's been in talks with Scott about returning to the Blade Runner universe.
"Yeah, we've been chatting about it," the 71-year-old Indiana Jones star told website IGN. "I truly admire Ridley as a man and as a director, and I would be very happy to engage again with him in the further telling of this story."
On how he remembers making the original, he said: "I remember it with complication. But I'm not there to generate nostalgic moments, I'm there to do a job of work. And I quite understand that everybody has an ambition when they come into a film and everyone's ambition may not be so focused on the same thing."
Green Lantern scribe Michael Green is reportedly penning a script for the sequel, following a first draft by Hampton Fancher.
Appearing on The Graham Norton Show this week, Ford also said he's still keen to play Indiana Jones again.
"I would do it in a New York minute, yes," Ford said about a possible return as the whip-cracking adventurer in a fifth instalment of the movie franchise.
"I don't think there is any barrier to Indiana Jones being an old fart. I'm old enough that we don't need (Sean) Connery any more - I'm old enough to play my own father!
"I used to enjoy physical acting, it was fun. I was more fond of it then than I am now and people don't ask me to do it that much any more."
Ford also played it coy about whether he will reprise his role as Han Solo in JJ Abrams' upcoming Star Wars film.
