Robert Redford wanted to make a sequel to The Candidate.

The late Hollywood legend - who passed away on Tuesday (16.09.25) aged 89 - starred as Bill McKay in the 1972 political satire and Rod Lurie, who directed his 2001 film The Last Castle, revealed they had spent many years discussing ideas to a follow-up film.

While Redford liked Lurie's idea for the sequel, he ultimately never started writing it.

The Contender filmmaker told The Hollywood Reporter: "One of his hopes was to continue this story of Bill McKay.

"He's an infamous developer and works on scripts endlessly. So it was in the discussion phase and mostly, 'What was it going to be?'

"The two actors that we wanted to have [were either] Denzel Washington and George Clooney. [Redford's character] would be an ex-president at this time, advising a new candidate.

"We just spent so many hours discussing it and what he wanted to do, what he didn't want to do. And then we would exchange letters [after production ended on Last Castle.] It just never came to pass."

Ultimately, Redford turned to Larry Gelbart to write a potential follow-up, even though he was "anti-sequel", but the project never came to fruition.

The actor said in 2003 he felt the time was right to mock American politics again.

He said: "The truth is so awful, but in its own horrible way, it's entertaining."

Lurie is grateful just to have worked with the Sundance Film Festival founder and to have been able to speak with him about the "greatest film ever made".

He said: "He starred in the greatest film ever made -- that's my personal opinion -- which is All the President's Men.

"When I was on the set of The Last Castle with him, we had dinner three nights a week, and we never really exhausted talking about All the President's Men."

The Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid actor's passing was announced on Tuesday.

A statement read: "Robert Redford passed away on September 16, 2025, at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah -- the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved. He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy."