[Note: This article contains spoilers about Blade Runner 2049 and the film’s ending.] 

It’s pretty incredible how tightly Warner Bros. and Alcon Entertainment have kept Blade Runner 2049 under wraps, especially considering how many reveals the film contains. It also resulted in a pretty pristine viewing experience for most, going in as cold as possible and letting the film unfold fresh. But given how much of director Denis Villeneuve’s sequel was under wraps, we’re now doubly eager to discuss the many twists and turns and, of course, start debating what they all mean.

The ending of the film in particular is quite stunning, as we close on Harrison Ford’s Deckard being brought by a dying K (Ryan Gosling) to meet his daughter for the very first time. The scene is a short one, playing out wordlessly, but Ford nails it, concluding the film on an incredibly emotional note. However, when Collider’s own Steve Weintraub spoke with Blade Runner 2049 writers Michael Green and Hampton Fancher, it was revealed that Fancher’s original draft didn’t have that scene in it:

“I didn’t have that ending in my version, so it had nothing to do with what I was doing. That was the work of the current workers.”

Fancher originated the Blade Runner 2049 screenplay and then Green, who co-wrote producer Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant, came onboard. Green reveals that once he started working his way through the script, it was obvious what the ending would be:

“When I saw my way through a story that preserved a lot of what Hampton did and had a few different turns along the way, that was from Minute One the ending. It was in the first outline I wrote, never changed. I think the only thing that changed in that scene is occasionally a bit more dialogue came in and out, in and out, but that last moment was the moment. That was what the story to build for.”

Green did reveal that he and Villeneuve discussed lines of dialogue for the scene, and Villeneuve even shot some:

“There was maybe one more exchange shot, and I remember talking about that with Denis. I felt certainly the less said the better, and he felt that too but there were a couple pretty lines that we’d talk through that he just thought might be worth having in there. But if the movie had played right, and I always felt that it would in Denis’ hand, that scene is pure emotion and then pure release, and then anything said is just pure music.”

While I’m mighty curious to know what Fancher’s original screenplay involved (perhaps it kept K as Deckard’s son?), I think the ending that Green settled on makes sense for the story that was told, and it leaves the film on a really beautiful note.

To see what the writers had to say about whether Deckard is a replicant, click here.