As we first revealed on SFFGazette.com, the first trailer for Blade Runner 2099 has been released, along with confirmation that the series will debut on Prime Video on November 25.
The visually impressive sneak peek looks like a cross between Sir Ridley Scott's classic Blade Runner and Denis Villeneuve's neon-drenched Blade Runner 2049. Set 50 years after the latter, the series picks up in the aftermath of a war between humans and replicants...that humanity lost.
The trailer is light on story details (you'll find more of those here), though we do get a standout scene with Hunter Schafer's Blade Runner getting her head bashed in before waking up to an interrogation from Michelle Yeoh's Repicant. Amazon has given the show a big budget feel, but will the long-running sci-fi franchise finally find mainstream appeal?
This is one of many iconic franchises that Amazon is rebooting, as it was recently announced that Robocop is also on the way to the company's streaming platform.
In Los Angeles 2099, Olwen, a veteran Blade Runner days from dying, partners with a mysterious new recruit, Cora, to investigate a widening conspiracy that stretches back to the city’s darkest original sins
Dimitri Abold (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) and Lewis Gribben (Somewhere Boy) are series regulars alongside stars Michelle Yeoh (Wicked) and Hunter Schafer (Euphoria).
Katelyn Rose Downey (The Nun II), Daniel Rigby (Renegade Nell), Johnny Harris (A Gentleman in Moscow), Amy Lennox (Only Child), Sheila Atim (The Woman King), Matthew Needham (House of the Dragon), Tom Burke (Furiosa), and Maurizio Lombardi (Ripley) are recurring guest stars.
Silka Luisa serves as showrunner and executive producer along with Ridley Scott, Alcon Entertainment co-founders Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson, Alcon's President of Television Ben Roberts, David W. Zucker and Clayton Krueger from Scott Free Productions, Tom Spezialy, Richard Sharkey, Michael Green, Cynthia Yorkin, Frank Giustra, and Isa Dick Hackett.
Jonathan van Tulleken (Shogun) is an executive producer and directed the first two episodes of the limited series Blade Runner 2099. Steven Johnson is Co-EP.
"I am so excited for people to see it," Luisa told Entertainment Weekly. "There is so much legacy with Blade Runner. Every person who touched the show in any way is a huge fan. Everyone was very well aware of the weight of what we were doing, and we did it with great care. And when you’re taking on something like this, you’re very thoughtful and deliberate about each step."
"That is why it has taken so long, because we wanted to make sure we got it right," the showrunner continued. "We stayed very true to the noir principles of Blade Runner. And there’s a mystery at the heart of the show that looks both forwards and backwards in terms of mythology that fans are gonna be very excited about."
Watch the Blade Runner 2099 trailer in the player below.