News of Harrison Ford agreeing to appear in a sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 future noir thriller Blade Runner broke today.
The original film was adapted from Philip K Dick’s book “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”.
A lot of programmes and books have been produced about the Blade Runner universe over the intervening years including several sequel novels written by other authors although these may be disregarded in favour of a whole new script.
Scott will be producing the film, which he has co-written with original Blade Runner screenwriter Hampton Fancher.
Ford has already reprised his role as laconic smuggler Han Solo in JJ Abrams Star Wars Episode VII which will hit cinemas later this year and is expected to start shooting Blade Runner 2 in summer 2016.
It’s the latest announcement in a late renaissance of Ford’s movie career with continual rumours about another return to another of his iconic roles after 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Directing duties will be taken up by Denis Villeneuve, who directed Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal in the 2013 film Prisoners. Villeneuve is seen as an interesting choice and while fans may prefer the auteur’s eye of Scott in the director’s chair, the mixed reception of 2012’s Alien prequel Prometheus may have some Blade Runner fans relieved that an exciting director such as Villeneuve is being offered the chance to put his own stamp on the film.
There is currently no word regarding a role in the sequel for Ford’s female co-star Sean Young, who played replicant Rachel although an Entertainment Weekly article from 2013 hints that the reason may be because the script, which remains secret at this stage, may not have a role for Young.
Blade Runner plays a large role in film lore over the years, with computer screens from the movie recycled from Scott’s earlier film Alien, the introduction of one of cinema’s greatest robots in Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty, and a wrecked spinner (flying car) added to a junk yard in forgotten 1998 film Soldier, and even the Voight-Kampff Test which is a variation on Alan Turing’s Imitation game as just some of the rich history of the film.
Blade Runner is an adaptation of just one of Philip K Dick’s works, with Man in the High Castle the latest and given a premiere on Amazon Prime’s Streaming network. In between there have been movies such as Impostor, Minority Report, Paycheck, A Scanner Darkly, Next, Screamers, The Adjustment Bureau, and Total Recall.