UPDATE:
EARLIER: This one was shot in 2024. Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer lead Amazon/MGM’s “Blade Runner 2099.” Yeoh signed on to play the role of Olwyn, and Hunter Schafer was cast in the lead role as Cora.
I’m sure some of you are asking: why? I’m just as bewildered by the greenlight of this series as anyone else.
We now have our first look at the show via EW, which is described as taking place “within the world of the films.” The images feature Yeoh and Schafer in a radically transformed Los Angeles, where humanity is no longer in control and the replicants have won the power struggle and uprising.
The look of the whole thing feels very “Blade Runner 2049,” they seem to be going for the same photography which won Roger Deakins his first Oscar back in 2018.
Yeoh stars as Olwen, a replicant Blade Runner hunting rogue replicants while facing the final days of her predetermined lifespan. Schafer plays Cora, a human fugitive forced to pose as a Blade Runner as she joins Olwen’s search for the missing replicants.
Jonathan Van Tulleken is confirmed as director of the limited series. Silka Luisa (“Shining Girls”) is the writer, creator, and showrunner. I’m curious to see how this all works out. Tulleken actually came on board to replace Jeremy Podeswa (“Game of Thrones”), whose departure was attributed to a “scheduling conflict.” Tulleken directed the first two episodes of FX’s acclaimed “Shōgun.”
“Blade Runner 2099” is the same series that Ridley Scott was originally supposed to direct—he’s now listed only as an executive producer and advised on the series.
We should be getting a trailer for the series today following its Comic-Con panel, and potentially a release date as well. I expect it to air on Prime Video sometime in the fall.
