Back in March, Blade Runner fans feared for the fate of the cult classic’s hallowed name, after a production company bought the rights to spin off the film. So let’s hope this offers some reassurance: Ridley Scott has signed on to direct and produce the new installment.
Cinaphiles have a long wait ahead, though — the screenwriters have not even been hired yet. One of the producers, Andrew Kosove, told the Los Angeles Times that 2014 will be the earliest possible date it will hit theaters. And it is still not known whether the new film will be a sequel, prequel or completely different spinoff. While the rights deal prohibits a remake, it allows the new version to build off scenes from the 1982 original and use material from the Philip K. Dick’s source novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
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Blade Runner is about a police officer, played by Harrison Ford, hunting down rogue androids who look just like humans on the dark and gritty streets of futuristic Los Angeles. It takes place in 2019, when the dystopian city sees flying cars, lots of rain and outfits that still have a strong 80s vibe.
But neither Ford nor his character will be returning for the new movie. “If you’re asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no,” Kosove said. “This is a total reinvention, and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting.”
Audiences will be able to get a taste of a different Scott-directed revival when Prometheus is released next year — it is a followup to his sci-fi horror Alien, in 3D no less.