Ridley Scott’s 1982 singular sci-fi neo-noir Blade Runner is an undisputed classic—one of those adored films that many never wanted Hollywood to go back and touch. Unfortunately, Hollywood didn’t keep its hands off, and a sequel has been a dreaded-by-some, fancied-by-others possibility ever since Ridley Scott announced he was toying with the idea in 2007. It’s been 8 years since then, so whoever has been downright furious over this has had plenty of time to get over it and stop losing their shit. The sequel is still happening. Scott stepped away and into a producing role, Alcon Entertainment secured the franchise rights in 2011, and the studio’s choices have been for the most part stellar so far.
They hired mind-bending filmmaker extraordinaire Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Sicario) back in February to direct and Ryan Gosling will lead a cast supported by Harrison Ford fulfilling his original role as Deckard. Also, frequent Villeneuve-collaborator and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins is attached, and original Blade Runner writer Hampton Fancher penned the script with Michael Green based on a concept from both. So if you’re like me in that each of these additions has swapped misgivings for enthusiastic salivating over the past year, the next bit of news will please you as well: production will officially begin this summer. In an announcement that Sony Pictures secured the international distribution for the movie, it was disclosed that production will begin this July, meaning we’ll probably see a 2017 release.
Plot details have been kept under wraps of course but what has been confirmed is that it will take place roughly 30 years after the original. Other than that, it’s all question marks. In fact, one of the biggest mysteries surrounds the reprisal of replicant-hunter Deckard. Replicants, according to the original Blade Runner, cannot live longer than four years so his existence decades later seemingly disproves a long-running theory that Deckard was a replicant himself. Back in September, Villeneuve revealed in an interview with Crave Online that the mystery of Deckard’s state of being would in fact be addressed in the sequel and the truth revealed. Given Villeneuve’s propensity to really mess with his audience’s perception of what’s real and not, how he handles that matter will surely be intriguing.
Next: 30 Things We Learned from The Blade Runner DVD Commentary
The news of official production set to start in July is welcoming for anyone who has been eagerly awaiting—or at least curious about—the sequel. It also helps that the choices Alcon Entertainment has made for cast and crew have checked enough boxes to convince those that have bemoaned this project that something great may lie ahead. It’s foolish to expect this untitled sequel to be as great as its predecessor, especially not with the weight of Blade Runner’s legacy, but it may still end up good enough to be considered a worthy successor.
Related Product:
Blade Runner (30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition) [Blu-ray]
Blu-ray | Warner Home Video
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