May 17, 2012

'BLADE RUNNER 2' Officially A Sequel Set Several Years Later, Deckard Likely Not Involved


Earlier today it was revealed that screenwriter Hampton Fancher was likely going to be involved in the writing process for the Blade Runner sequel. Now with this new press release from Variety it seems that Alcon and Scott Free are confirming this new film is indeed a sequel and not a prequel/reboot. While the film is still set in the same world created by Ridley Scott back in 1982 it be set some years after the original film. Ridley also announced that the protagonist of the sequel would be female. Giving the impression because of the new direction/timeline Deckard won't be returning.

Apparently Scott and Fancher had originally imagined Blade Runner as the first in a series of films. These movies would explore the characters and themes from Dick's short story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Blade Runner's notoriously harsh production and the film's ultimate failure at the box office killed any hope of these sequels to be made. Luckily, the film found new life when it started airing on TV in the UK and North America along with booming home video sales which has made Blade Runner one the largest cult hits of all-time.

Nothing has been confirmed about the new film's setting or direction. It's possible that the sequel could explore the off-world colonies where replicants are essentially android slaves that are worked until they keel over from a premature death. Roy speaks of seeing attack ships in space as a soldier while Pris was a sex-slave until freed, so there are plenty of different aspects the off-world colonies that could be explored. My hope is that a full scale rebellion by the replicants and their human supporters is sparked. The Tyrell Corporation is responsible for the making the replicants while another company is involved with the colonies and settling them. The Dominguez-Shimata Corporation could very well be the focus of this film.

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