Prime Video has developed a strange reputation over the last few years for expanding beloved sci-fi/fantasy franchises. Following up on the success of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Prime Video will be turning its attention to the world of Blade Runner, as filming recently wrapped on the upcoming series, Blade Runner 2099. As the title indicates, the show will take place 50 years after the critical darling/financial flop Blade Runner 2049, while Ridley Scott, who helmed the original film, will be serving as a producer.
Thus far, the show’s premise has been kept tightly under wraps, but what little we know hints that Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh will serve as the lead. She’s set to play Olwen, a Replicant nearing the end of her life, and she’ll be joined by an ensemble cast including Hunter Schafer, Lewis Gribben, and Tom Burke (most recently seen in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and Black Bag). But while we’re down for anything set in the Blade Runner universe, a recent hint from a cast member admittedly has us feeling a bit disappointed.
‘Blade Runner 2099’ Aims to Recapture the Original Film
In a recent interview with Variety, Tom Burke briefly offered hints about what to expect from Blade Runner 2099, claiming that the aesthetic will be “much closer to the aesthetic of the first movie than the second movie… that somewhat kind of Baroque, eclectic mix of cultures and time periods.”
Additionally, he asserted that the show would be faithful to the films’ core thematic concerns: “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 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.”
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On some level, it makes sense that the show will be a bit more faithful to the original Blade Runner than 2049. The latter film was a surprising box office disappointment despite the critical acclaim, and for a sequel decades in the making, it was inevitable that any creative choices made would polarize fans at least a little bit. Additionally, Ridley Scott voiced minor disappointment with the film, criticizing its length and pace, so it’s not surprising that he’d wish to return to the aesthetic he spearheaded, given his greater creative involvement.
Additionally, the fact that the series is set to have a female lead could arguably be taken as a response to one of the most common debates about 2049 — its portrayal of women. While Denis Villeneuve and a decent portion of the fanbase believe that the film objectively showcased modern society’s rampant misogyny without endorsing it, others felt it inadvertently objectified the female characters. All of this is to say, it’s not hard to imagine that 2049’s reception may have dictated several of the creative decisions for the show.
That being said, it’d admittedly be disappointing to see Blade Runner 2099 return to familiar territory. One of 2049’s greatest strengths was how it didn’t just feel like a rehash, instead expanding upon the world and building off of the philosophical questions the original film raised while also prompting new discussion. Especially given how much time had passed in-universe, it almost felt like a completely new story that could be enjoyed by anyone who hadn’t seen the first installment, while longtime fans could still appreciate the story threads carried over.
While the story world itself looked and felt different, that was the point. We love the gritty, rundown, noir-driven aesthetic of Blade Runner as much as anyone, but decades passed in-universe, so it was the right call for the setting to look different. The desolate, sterile landscapes effectively showcased both how technology was continuing to evolve and improve but also how the world itself was deteriorating as a result of climate change and widening social inequality. Much like how the universe of Blade Runner still felt somewhat rooted in the 1980s, 2049’s world felt like a natural progression of our modern era.
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Thus, if the rumors that 2099 will look more like the original than 2049, it wouldn’t feel just like a creative regression; it wouldn’t feel accurate to the setting, especially given how even more time is supposed to pass in-universe. If anything, it would be fitting for the 2099 world to feel even more desolate than Blade Runner, where the overpopulated settings felt perfectly at home near the start of social collapse rather than in the middle of it.
Nonetheless, more Blade Runner is always preferable to none at all, and we’re still greatly anticipating the show and seeing how it continues to expand the franchise’s mythology. Assuming the creative team still has the restraint to avoid answering if Deckard is a human or a Replicant, we’re all in. Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 are available to rent on Prime Video and Apple TV.
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