Martin Scorsese has revealed Warner Bros. wanted The Departed to wind up as a franchise.

In a recent interview with GQ, the Oscar-nominated director said the studio asked him if one of the two leads in the 2006 film, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, could survive the events of the movie.

“What they wanted was a franchise. It wasn’t about a moral issue of a person living or dying,” he explained. “They wanted the franchise. Which means: I can’t work here anymore.”

The film stars Damon as a mole for the Irish mob while DiCaprio plays an undercover officer. Both characters are determined to uncover each other’s identity, however, after a series of violent events, both leads end up dead.

The Raging Bull filmmaker then recalled a successful test screening for The Departed where the audience and filmmakers walked out elated, but the executives did not.

“And then the studio guys walked out, and they were very sad because they just didn’t want that movie,” Scorsese noted.

The Departed won four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Scorsese – his first from nine nominations across his career.

The veteran director is gearing up for the release of his latest film Killers of the Flower Moon, which will star DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone.

The film is set to arrive in cinemas on 18 October.

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