There aren’t too many filmmakers working right now who can claim to have witnessed World War II and the advent of artificial intelligence, but Ridley Scott certainly can. The 88-year-old director recently returned to the sci-fi genre with the post-apocalyptic movie The Dog Stars, and in an interview leading up to it, he spoke about the influences behind his vision for the future. Scott said that he grew up as a “war baby” in the 1940s and 1950s, witnessing closely the devastation caused by World War II. He specifically remembered the sight of German submarines bobbing in the sea and the towns he crossed that had been decimated by war. The war also taught him what visceral fear felt like and the extent to which humans can turn on one another.
He told AlloCiné, “I was a war baby. I was bombed every night as a child. Our house was near the main line, and they would bomb the main line. One day, I was in the park, and a Heinkel and two Messerschmitts flew over the park at 200 ft. Having dropped their load, they were returning to Germany. All these images stuck,” Scott said. The filmmaker has made several movies set in the future, having often explored the human condition with all its frailties and vulnerabilities. He is also known for his sweeping visuals of warfare, and the effects of it. While Scott has made several movies about war, ranging from medieval times to modern combat, he has curiously never made a World War II movie.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
Ridley Scott’s New Movie Unfolds in a Post-Apocalyptic Future
He continued, “My father became important in the army, and he was shipped to Germany in 1947. I was 10 years old. I was in a boarding school, and I walked past 200 U-boats every morning. When I traveled from Frankfurt to Wilhelmshaven, I saw cities that were devastated, like a hydrogen bomb had dropped. That was an apocalypse, for them and for the whole Jewish community. That was an apocalypse, and I’ve seen it. We’re heading in that direction now.” The Dog Stars unfolds on a decimated planet, while films such as Prometheus and Alien: Covenant also feature haunting images of barren landscapes. Some of Scott’s early sci-fi movies — Alien and Blade Runner — have been instrumental in creating the visual language of a dystopian future. You can watch The Dog Stars in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
