Why 'Warcraft' Will Never Have A Director's Cut

Duncan Jones' first cut of Warcraft was two hours and forty minutes long. Around the time of the film's release, the director made it sound like most of what was cut was removed for good reason, but there were some trims made that possibly weakened the film. We'll see some of these extended/deleted scenes on the Blu-ray next month, but any World of Warcraft fans hoping to one day purchase an extended version of the fantasy film are sadly out of luck.

Below, learn why you'll never see a Warcraft director's cut.

Jones candidly discussed his experience on Warcraft with The Thrillist. He made no apologies or excuses for his film — which performed huge in China and Europe — but he's aware of Warcraft's problems, most notably its pacing. We won't ever see these pacing and structure issues get patched up by a director's cut, and not only because of the cost to complete some unfinished VFX. Jones said:

A lot of people ask me, 'When is the director's cut coming out?' There will never be a director's cut. With a film like this, where there are so many visual effects, every concession that you make you lose those shots. They cease to exist because the effects work never gets done. Some of it's not even at that stage. You go through a writing stage right up to the deadline of shooting the thing. [You lose] ideas in the writing process. Then sets change for whatever reason and notes come in. You're changing things around a three-and-a-half-year process. You get these little changes which are constantly course correcting you. So there is no possibility of ever being a director's cut. It's purely in my head.

The director added:

Trying to make a movie like Warcraft, and trying to do it in a unique way... you get killed by a death of 1,000 cuts. Not just editing cuts. It's little changes that seem really innocuous. As a filmmaker, the only way that I understand how to make a film is holistically. Every choice that I make, whether it is story or character or costume, all works together. When you make a little change it doesn't seem like a big deal. When you keep making those little changes, especially over three and a half years, suddenly you're basically spending all of your time trying to work out how to patch up what has been messed around with.

Jones concluded he's "equally proud and furious about Warcraft," but overall, he can't help but to "love it." He's admittedly driven "crazy" by the parts that hold the film back, but it didn't sound like he regretted making the video game adaptation in the slightest. His vision was tinkered and toyed with far too much, but in the movie's finer moments, Jones' passion for this world is evident. As for whether he'd return for a potential sequel, he wouldn't mind one day completing the journey he began three and a half years ago, which is how long he spent on the project.

Warcraft is available to purchase on Blu-ray on September 27th.