Hans Zimmer

Zimmer is largely self-taught as a musician, having dropped out of multiple schools as a teenager before working in London new wave bands and advertising jingles on his way to an eventual film-scoring career.

The defining blockbuster composer of his era stepped into Vangelis's shadow for Blade Runner 2049, delivering walls of analog synth brutal enough to rattle theater seats. He built one of the most commercially successful film-scoring careers in history through his work with Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott and countless other major directors.

He has said in interviews that scoring a sequel to Vangelis's original was one of the more intimidating assignments of his career, given how definitive the original score remains for fans of the franchise.