According to Deadline, Amazon Studios is developing Blade Runner 2099, a new installment in the Blade Runner franchise that will be a television sequel to the 2017 blockbuster Blade Runner 2049.
Silka Luisa, the showrunner of the Apple TV Plus series Shining Girls, which will air this spring, will write and executive produce the live-action series. Ridley Scott, who directed the first Blade Runner film in 1982, will also serve as an executive producer.
Despite these specifics, nothing is guaranteed. The show is now in “priority development,” according to Deadline. This indicates that Amazon Studios is “fast tracking” screenplays and looking into production schedules, but the show isn’t currently in production. According to Deadline, the production is now setting up a writers room, and Scott himself might direct episodes of the series if it is greenlit.
This isn’t the first time a Blade Runner TV program has been mentioned. Scott revealed he was creating a 10-episode series centered on the universe during his double press trip for his flicks House of Gucci and The Last Duel. Scott said there was a pilot written for the series and a show bible at the time, but it’s unclear if Blade Runner 2099 is the same series he was talking about.
While there have been a number of Blade Runner spinoffs, such as animated shorts and the new anime Blade Runner: Black Lotus, nothing in the franchise has gone beyond Blade Runner 2049. With a 50-year gap, it’s impossible to say what the new 2099-set series will be about, but we’re thinking replicants will be engaged in some manner.