The “Director’s Cut” (1992)

Based on the success of a limited theatrical re-release for the Workprint, the idea of doing an actual cleaned-up director’s cut of Blade Runner was suddenly viable. Weirdly enough, the Workprint was being advertised as “the director’s cut” anyway, which apparently, frustrated Scott. Still, this was in 1991, and Scott was busy shooting the film 1492. And so because of his hectic schedule, Scott wasn’t actually the only person involved in this “Director’s Cut.”

Warner Bros. executive Peter Gardiner and Arick both worked on the project, while Scott basically told them what he wanted. This included fixing technical aspects of the film, including moments where dialogue wasn’t synced correctly, as well as reinserting several small shots absent from the theatrical cut. But, the big stuff was essentially built on the Workprint: this “Director’s Cut” cut out all the voice-over, and ended the film with Rachael and Deckard walking into the elevator, just as Deckard notices the tinfoil unicorn left behind by Gaff. This was also the first version to incorporate the unicorn dream sequence which Scott had wanted reinserted from the beginning.

The search for the missing unicorn scene was long and complicated (missing negatives, reshoots) and at one point, the studio was all about releasing this cut (sometimes called the Enhanced Workprint) without Scott’s dream sequence. Eventually, a cobbled together version of this scene did make it back into the Director’s Cut, which was enough to satisfy Scott, at least back in 1992. Overall though, both Scott and Arick claimed they weren’t totally happy with this cut of Blade Runner. As Scott said in 1995, “The so-called ‘Director’s Cut’ isn’t, really. But it’s close. And at least I got my unicorn.”

Obviously, this cut of Blade Runner can’t be the best, but for 15 years it was close enough. These days, the Director’s Cut is really only available on Disc 3 of the Blade Runner: Ultimate Collection.

The Final Cut (2007)

For the 25th Anniversary release of Blade Runner in 2007, Scott was determined to get a true director’s cut released into the world — and on home video. Since 2007, the Final Cut has effectively erased all other versions, other than the theatrical version, which, occasionally, pops-up on streaming. But, when you watch Blade Runner on HBO Max or Netflix, the version you now see is almost always the Final Cut. By now, you can probably predict the ways in which this film differs from the theatrical cut: No voice-over, no happy ending, unicorns both tinfoil and actual abound. So, what else is different between the Final Cut and the other almost-director’s cuts?

First up, this version contains a few scenes that were outright reshot only for this version, notably, the scene in which Deckard shoots Zora. In other versions, the stunt double used for Joanna Cassidy was utterly unconvincing, a fact which is fixed here. The dove released by Batty at the end of this cut also flies into a nighttime sky, rather than an inexplicable daytime sky, as in previous cuts.

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