Blade Runner Series Being Delayed, No Plans To Start Back Up
Blade Runner 2099 stopped production due to the writers strike.
The original Blade Runner is a truly iconic work thanks to the stunning direction of Ridley Scott and the sublimely subdued performance of Harrison Ford. Many years later, Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve brought us Blade Runner 2049, in which Barbie boyfriend Ryan Gosling became the protagonist and Blade Runner became a franchise. That franchise was set to continue with the Amazon television series Blade Runner 2099, but now Deadline reports that the series has been delayed because the current writer’s strike halted production.
Blade Runner 2099 is merely the latest production to get halted by the writer’s strike. This is, of course, the point: strikes are meant to be disruptive, and this particular strike is meant to remind Hollywood of just how important its writers really are. But this particular delay is certain to disappoint both fans of this franchise as well as original film director Ridley Scott, who is set to serve as executive producer.
We don’t yet know much about Blade Runner 2099, although it seems a fair bet that we won’t see the return of Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling, or any other familiar franchise faces. As the title indicates, this Amazon series takes place half a century after Blade Runner 2049, which itself took place 30 years after the original movie. Because of this, all of our familiar human protagonists should be dead, and most replicants should have reached their expiration date, but we can’t rule anything out in a franchise that so often manages to surprise us.
One thing that might surprise fans is that Blade Runner 2099 will not be the first Blade Runner television series. Long before there were any plans for this upcoming Amazon series, Crunchyroll and Adult Swim teamed up to create the anime Blade Runner: Black Lotus. This series, along with three short films, helps bridge the gap between the first two Blade Runner films and helps to expand the mythology of this evolving franchise.
We don’t yet know what the relationship will be like in Blade Runner 2099 between the titular blade runners and the robotic replicants they must hunt down to ostensibly keep society safe. Originally, Ridley Scott wanted audiences to consider whether these replicants were truly a danger to society or if they were effectively synthetic slaves rebelling against creators who should never have played god. Blade Runner 2049 introduced the bombshell that Harrison Ford’s human character and his replicant girlfriend, Rachael, were able to have a child, so the delayed series may very well explore how this and the replicant freedom movement have changed the familiar social dynamic.
Hopefully, we won’t have to wait until 2049 to see what Blade Runner 2099 is about, as everyone involved is hoping for a speedy resolution to the writer’s strike so production can resume. However, we can’t help but note the irony: in the original film, Roy Batty noted he was a “slave” because he had to “live in fear,” and now the production of a series exploring such concepts has been indefinitely delayed for a similar reason. Like the fictional replicants, Hollywood writers are through with living in fear and ready to make sure their own careers aren’t lost in time…like tears in the rain.
