44 Years Later, Blade Runner's New Sequel Will Not Feature Its Most Famous Character
Is Deckard a replicant? For sci-fi enthusiasts, this question has been plaguing serious discussions and late-night debates since 1982. Oddly enough, the 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049 did not overtly answer this question, even though the Ridley Scott “final cut” of Blade Runner in 2007 seems to fully suggest that Deckard is, in fact, not human. However, fans who are hoping that this question and debate will continue in the Blade Runner universe should curb their expectations. The new Michelle Yeoh-led sequel series, Blade Runner 2099, will not feature an appearance from Rick Deckard at all.
Speaking to Polygon, Blade Runner 2099 showrunner Silka Luisa said outright that Deckard will not appear in the show. “Harrison Ford is not in the show,” Luisa said. But it turns out that doesn’t mean the new series won’t reference the backstory of the Blade Runner universe. Here’s what to know about how the canon of Blade Runner 2099 connects to the past, even though Deckard won’t be around.
Blade Runner 2099 will connect to the 1982 canon
As the trailers have revealed, Blade Runner 2099 will flip the script on the Blade Runner mythos, and instead of Replicants being hunted by humans (as in the original film) or tightly controlled (as in 2049), we will instead see a society in which Replicants are in charge, and humans are basically subjugated.
In the same Polygon interview, Luisa says that it was a goal to make sure the show “separated ourselves from both films in terms of characters.” So, 2099 is set 50 years after 2049, and 80 years after the original film’s timeline of 2019. Even if Deckard had been a Replicant, surely he would have expired by this point, right?
That said, Luisa made it clear that even though the series won’t contain characters from the previous films (so no cameos from Ryan Gosling’s Officer K, either), the continuity will be maintained.
“From a mythological and canon point of view, we do reference back into the films,” Luisa said. “I can't give that away without spoilers, but that was why having Ridley [Scott] a part of the show was such an important piece.”
Blade Runner 2099 cast, release date and episode schedule
Starring Michelle Yeoh as a Replicant named Olwen and Hunter Schafer as a character named Cora, Blade Runner 2099 aims to tell a new story set in the Blade Runner universe, but also further into the future than the franchise has ever attempted. The cast also features Isa Briones as a character named Nix, which is notable for sci-fi fans since Briones starred as several Blade Runner-coded characters in the first two seasons of Star Trek: Picard. Clearly, if there’s someone in this cast who knows something about playing a Replicant/Sythn, it's Briones.