‘Blade Runner’ TV Series in the Works with Ridley Scott on Board
A new Blade Runner series is on the way to small screens– and it has superstar director Ridley Scott at the helm.
What was initially a stand-alone story based on Philip K. Dick’s novel has become a franchise. After Denis Villeneuve’s 2017 Blade Runner 2049 hit theaters, there’s been interest in expanding into new stories set in the cyberpunk universe.
So far we’ve gotten an anime and some whispers about a live-action streaming series.
via Warner Bros.
Ridley Scott Confirms Blade Runner
Ridley Scott spoke with BBC Radio’s Today about various projects, including an Alien tv-series with Noah Hawley. He also confirmed the whispers and gave some basic details about what’s going on with the planned Blade Runner series.
“We [have already] written the pilot for ‘Blade Runner’ and the bible. So, we’re already presenting ‘Blade Runner’ as a TV show, the first 10 hours.”
That will likely mean 10 sixty-minute episodes. It also sounds like he’s planning on producing multiple seasons.
via Warner Bros.
The keeper of the Bladerunner IP, Alcon Entertainment, has its own sort of Jedi Council for the universe. In an interview with Indiewire, Alcon co-founder and co-CEO Andrew Kosove spoke about how seriously they take this assignment.
“We have two people who work for us at Alcon whose — I wouldn’t say it’s their full-time job, [but] it’s the majority of their job. [They take it] really seriously, interweaving the different stories and making sure the timelines, the canon, the character motivations are all seamless and have a logic within the canon.
Our goal at Alcon, because we’re the keeper of the ‘Blade Runner’ IP, and therefore we take the canon of the franchise very seriously, because the fans, of which there are so many, have invested so much of themselves in the material.”
There was no word on where on the timeline the story will be or if it will include existing characters. The fact that they have an episode and the shows bible (aka blueprint for the series) done is a good sign. Hopefully we’ll start to get more information in the coming months.
via Warner Bros.
Blade Runner: Black Lotus
If you want to dive back in to the Blade Runner universe now, you can check out the thirteen-episode Blade Runner: Blade Lotus on Adult Swim and Crunchyroll. The original animated series is from diretors Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama with animation studio Sola Digital Arts. It debuted on November 14, and is available for streaming now.
The story is set somewhere between the two movies, and focuses on a replicant named Elle. Her true purpose is unknown to even herself, but she has something to do with the change from Tyrell Corporation to the Wallace Corporation in 2049. More pieces of the puzzle will be put into place.
