Ridley Scott Just Shut Down Retirement Talk For Good, And His Next Project Proves It
Ridley Scott has spent more than five decades building one of the most prolific filmographies in Hollywood, and at nearly 89 years old, he shows zero signs of slowing that pace down. The director behind ‘Alien’, ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Gladiator’ has long treated filmmaking less like a job and more like an obsession, and that obsession keeps producing new work at a rate that would exhaust directors half his age.
That relentless drive isn’t new. Scott previously told The Hollywood Reporter that he plans to keep directing until the day he dies, pointing to Clint Eastwood’s continued work in his nineties as proof that age is no reason to stop. He’s also been openly dismissive of peers who plan their exit, once brushing off Quentin Tarantino’s vow to retire after his tenth film by saying he simply doesn’t believe it will happen.
Now Scott has doubled down in a new interview with Il Venerdì di Repubblica, and the language he used was sharper than ever. He said he hates the very word retirement because it sounds like a death sentence, adding that he despises the idea of quitting and intends to stay active for as long as his health allows. It’s the kind of blunt, no nonsense declaration that has defined his public persona for years, and it lands as confirmation that nothing, not age and not industry convention, is going to pull him away from the camera.
The same interview touched on Scott’s long overdue honorary Oscar, which the Academy is set to award him in November after four competitive directing nominations without a single win. Scott has said the commercial success of his films, their cultural staying power, and the steady work they provide to hundreds of collaborators matter far more to him than any trophy.
He isn’t just talking either. Scott confirmed that ‘Treasure Island’ has entered pre production as his next film, with Hugh Jackman set to star as Long John Silver in a fresh take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic adventure novel. The script comes from Jack Thorne, the writer behind ‘Adolescence’, with Scott producing alongside Michael Pruss through Scott Free.
Before any of that, though, Scott has ‘The Dog Stars’ hitting theaters. The post apocalyptic thriller is based on Peter Heller’s novel and follows Hig, a former civilian pilot, alongside Bangley, a hardened survivalist, as they navigate a devastated world nine years after a flu pandemic nearly wiped out humanity. The film stars Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Allison Janney, Benedict Wong and Guy Pearce, and arrives exclusively in theaters on August 28, 2026. Elordi’s character Hig is pulled out of his isolated homestead by a mysterious radio transmission, sparking a search for whatever hope and humanity might still exist beyond his own small world.
Between an honorary Oscar, a survival epic about to hit theaters, and a swashbuckling adventure already taking shape, Scott is treating his late eighties less like a victory lap and more like just another busy stretch of an unfinished career. With no plans to slow down and a resume that keeps growing, it’s worth asking which of his upcoming projects has you the most excited to see what he does next.
