Home Entertainment It's official: New BLADE RUNNER will be a sequel, and will feature a leading lady. Original screenwriter developing the story idea

It's official: New BLADE RUNNER will be a sequel, and will feature a leading lady. Original screenwriter developing the story idea

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Ridley Scott’s return to science-fiction with Prometheus may be all the rage currently, but it’s his “other return to science fiction” that may end up eclipsing even that. Up until now we haven’t really known much about the proposed 2nd Blade Runner film, except that we felt like kicking puppies when we first heard that another one was being made, a feeling that luckily (for the puppies) passed when we realized that Scott would still be in the driving seat, and that there would be no dreaded reboots of our beloved dystopian vision of the future.

Probably adding to that sense of fanboy well-being  is the news that Scott has brought on a very familiar face for the project, and that it’s now finally been officially confirmed that the new film will be a sequel and not a prequel\reboot as some feared.

According to the press release, the original Blade Runner screenwriter Hampton Fancher – who was also instrumental in initially acquiring the rights to Phillip K. Dick’s story “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep“, from which Blade Runner was adapted – will be joining Scott in developing the story idea for this sequel. That doesn’t mean that he will eventually be writing the actual script though, but one can hope. And sacrifice a few a virgins to the Geek Gods. (What? Just me? …Awkward…)

As to what this story would be about, the press release only reveals that it will be taking place an undisclosed number of years after the original. And don’t get your hopes up for Harrison Ford’s Deckard making an appearance, as not only is he probably far too busy off being/not being a replicant, but according to an interview that Scott gave The Daily Beast, our lead character will be sporting some lady-bits. No word yet on whether those bits will be android in nature or not though:

“I started my first meetings on the Blade Runner sequel last week. We have a very good take on it. And we’ll definitely be featuring a female protagonist.”

Here’s the press release in its entirety:

LOS ANGELES, CA, MAY 17, 2012—Hampton Fancher is in talks to reunite with his “Blade Runner” director Ridley Scott to develop the idea for the original screenplay for the Alcon Entertainment, Scott Free, and Bud Yorkin produced follow up to the ground-breaking 1982 science fiction classic, it was announced by Alcon co-founders and co-Chief Executive Officers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.

The filmmakers are also revealing for the first time that the much-anticipated project is intended to be a sequel to the renowned original. The filmmakers would reveal only that the new story will take place some years after the first film concluded.

The three-time Oscar-nominated Scott and his “Blade Runner” collaborator Fancher originally conceived of their 1982 classic as the first in a series of films incorporating the themes and characters featured in Philip K. Dick’s groundbreaking novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, from which “Blade Runner” was adapted. Circumstances, however, took Scott into other directions and the project never advanced.

Fancher, although a writer of fiction, was known primarily as an actor at the time Scott enlisted him to adapt the Dick novel for the screen. Fancher followed his “Blade Runner” success with the screenplays, “The Mighty Quinn” (1989) and “The Minus Man” (1999). He has continued to write fiction throughout his career.

Scott also will produce with Alcon co-founders and co-Chief Executive Officers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove as well as Bud Yorkin and Cynthia Sikes Yorkin. Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble, CEO’s of Thunderbird Films, will serve as executive producers.

The original film, which has been singled out as the greatest science-fiction film of all time by a majority of genre publications, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1993 and is frequently taught in university courses. In 2007, it was named the 2nd most visually influential film of all time by the Visual Effects Society.

State Kosove and Johnson: “It is a perfect opportunity to reunite Ridley with Hampton on this new project, one in fact inspired by their own personal collaboration, a classic of cinema if there ever was one.”

Released by Warner Bros. almost 30 years ago, “Blade Runner” was adapted by Fancher and David Peoples from Philip K. Dick’s groundbreaking novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and directed by Scott following his landmark “Alien.” The film was nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction). Following the filming of “Blade Runner,” the first of Philip K. Dick’s works to be adapted into a film, many other of Dick’s works were likewise adapted, including “Total Recall,” “A Scanner Darkly,” “Minority Report,” “Paycheck,” and the recent “The Adjustment Bureau,” among others.

Last Updated: May 18, 2012

3 Comments

  1. Justin Hess

    May 18, 2012 at 13:12

    I’m looking forward to a film that’s a reverse of the original. Where that one had a cop tasked with finding Replicants, this new one will, I think feature a Replicant on the run from the coppers.

    Regardless, I hope this new Blade Runner will feature the philosophical themes as the original as well as the depth of the world that was in the 1981 film

    Blade Runner had a pretty non-existent plot (dude looks at pictures, walks around, waits for Replicant to show up) but its themes and colour and plausibility of the world it created make it the classic it is today.

    One of the few films that actually gets better every time I watch it. Very that

    Reply

  2. James Francis

    May 18, 2012 at 15:29

    It would take a lot more than just Scott and the writer. The design is what pushed Blade Runner into the stratosphere. 

    Reply

  3. Christo Kruger

    May 18, 2012 at 16:19

    Vangelis or GTFO.

    Reply

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