Harrison Ford Confirmed for ‘Blade Runner’ Sequel

More than three decades after the original, Harrison Ford will star in a sequel to the dystopian, sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner. The plot of the film will also take place decades after the events of the original – a 1982 film that was set in 2019 – with a script written by one of the first movie’s co-writers, Hampton Fancher, and Michael Green (Green Lantern) using an idea that the former came up with director Ridley Scott, who helmed the original movie. Principal photography will begin in 2016, according to Deadline.

Director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy) is currently in talks to lead the film. Scott, who broke the news that a sequel was in development in 2012, will serve as executive producer on the film.

Scott relayed late last year that Ford had read the sequel’s script and that it had more than impressed him. “He said, ‘Wow, this is the best thing I’ve ever read,’ so it’s very relevant to what happened in the first one,” Scott told MTV. “I’m not just doing a sequel with lots of action and see how far we can go with the special effects because you can’t really. Blade Runner kind of landed on a somehow very credible future. And it’s very difficult to change that because it’s been so influential with everything else.”

“We are honored that Harrison is joining us on this journey with Denis Villeneuve, who is a singular talent, as we experienced personally on Prisoners,” two of the film’s producers, Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson – who head up Blade Runner’s film production company, Alcon Entertainment – said in a statement. “Hampton and Michael, with Ridley Scott, have crafted a uniquely potent and faithful sequel to one of the most universally celebrated films of all time, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with this amazing, creative team.”

“We have a very good take on it,” Scott, whose Biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings came out last year, said of the sequel in 2012. “And we’ll definitely be featuring a female protagonist.”