BLADE RUNNER 2099 Reveals First Look at Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer in Prime Video's Sci-Fi Series
If you’ve been waiting to see what the next chapter of the Blade Runner universe looks like, and now we've finally got our first glimpse.
Prime Video has released the first official images from Blade Runner 2099, giving us a look at Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer in the upcoming series that continues one of science fiction's most iconic franchises.
The new images introduce Yeoh as Olwen, a replicant who also happens to be a Blade Runner, alongside Schafer's character, Cora, her human partner. It's an intriguing pairing right out of the gate, especially with the world they've been thrown into.
Set 50 years after the events of Blade Runner 2049, the series pushes the timeline even further into the future, exploring a Los Angeles that's changed in dramatic ways since audiences last visited it.
The show serves as the next chapter following Denis Villeneuve's acclaimed 2017 sequel, which starred Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, and Ana de Armas, while also building on the legacy of Ridley Scott's original 1982 classic.
This time around, humanity isn't the dominant force anymore. Showrunner Silka Luisa teased the massive shift in the balance of power while speaking with Entertainment Weekly:
"There’s been a replicant uprising that feels like it’s been bubbling up. And between 2049 and 2099, that’s happened. So the war has happened, and the humans have lost. Our worst fears imagined."
That conflict has completely reshaped society. "The replicants are now the power brokers of the city," she added. "And humans are the second-class citizens."
That's an interesting direction for the franchise. Instead of humans controlling artificial life, the tables have completely turned, opening the door for a very different kind of Blade Runner story.
The series also reaches beyond the films for inspiration. While it naturally connects to the events of the movies, Luisa says it's also pulling ideas from Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the book that started it all.
She explained that one of the central ideas driving the series is, "really imagining what comes after us, and what does it mean to be human in a world where humanity is no longer relevant?"
Even though Blade Runner 2099 continues the same timeline, don't expect familiar faces to show up. The story is introducing an entirely new cast of characters, and Luisa explained why: "We are taking place so much in the future that obviously none of the same characters are around."
That's probably the right move. The Blade Runner universe has always been much bigger than any one character, and this sounds like an opportunity to explore new corners of that world while still honoring everything that came before.
Blade Runner 2099 is scheduled to have a panel at Comic-Con today, Friday, and while nothing has been officially announced, there's plenty of speculation that the first trailer could make its debut during the presentation.
Prime Video is currently aiming to premiere Blade Runner 2099 sometime in 2027.
Source: EW