MOVIE NEWS – Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner continues to build on its impressive legacy. Fans of the 1982 sci-fi classic likely never imagined another entry in the dystopian neo-noir world that Scott masterfully crafted—until Denis Villeneuve delivered his own take. With Blade Runner 2049, the Dune director made a sequel that could stand on its own. Now, Prime Video has assembled an ambitious team to expand the saga with Blade Runner 2099, a new sequel series promising to return the franchise to its roots.

Blade Runner 2049 is a visually stunning sci-fi film starring Ryan Gosling as a replicant blade runner who stumbles upon secrets that could rewrite history. Villeneuve’s sequel brilliantly recaptured the holographic, minimalist dystopia of the original film while retaining its gritty, chaotic essence. Now, Prime Video’s upcoming series, Blade Runner 2099, will take place after the events of both films and feature a stellar cast, including Michelle Yeoh, Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer, Dimitri Abold, and Furiosa star Tom Burke.

During an interview with Variety regarding his upcoming projects—including the Steven Soderbergh thriller Black Bag—Burke revealed that the new series will capture the essence of the first film:

“There was a moment of just letting go… I was like, ‘OK, we’re really going out there with this.’ [The series is] much closer to the aesthetic of the first movie than the second movie. [Returning to] that somewhat kind of Baroque, eclectic mix of cultures and time periods.”

That will certainly please fans who prefer Scott’s film to Villeneuve’s sequel, which adds more scope to the world of Blade Runner.

Blade Runner Continues to Explore Humanity in Thrilling Ways

While Blade Runner is a classic sci-fi film with a distinct place in the cinema canon, the film has since had six additional cuts, which change key details from visuals to voice-overs, in addition to the widely known, original release that debuted in theaters on June 25, 1982. But overall, every cut of Scott’s masterpiece has a hazy, neo-noir vibe that blends ’80s and futuristic aesthetics, which Burke confirms fans will see influence the upcoming series.

Blade Runner 2099 will not only continue to expand on the artistic endeavors of the original film, but, according to Burke, it will also explore the overarching, highly intriguing theme of the entire franchise: what makes humans human.

“It’s a lot to do with that thing quite intrinsic to the source material in the movie, which is actually what makes somebody human and what makes somebody not human. Or when does somebody cross some threshold….Can we really have a full sense of humanity without being very aware of our own dual sides? We all have the capacity for great evil as well as great good. I suppose every genre does that to some extent, but I do feel that the morality, that whole kind of thing is handled so well in the ‘Blade Runner’ world, to me. It’s got subtleties and nuances to it that I don’t think necessarily all sci-fi always has.”

Fans of the dystopian franchise should take this as a great sign of what’s to come from the new Prime Video series, which does not yet have a release date.

Source: Variety