Harrison Ford, the star of the original film, is set to reprise his role as Rick Deckard. The sequel will be the second recent reprise of Harrison’s classic roles. He’s also playing Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Ridley Scott, who directed the first film, is still on board as executive producer but Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners) will take his place in the director’s chair. The new screenplay was written by Blade Runner co-writer Hampton Fancher and Michael Green.
Alcon Entertainment’s Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson announced the news Thursday in a press release that read: “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. 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.”
The story for the new film will pick up several decades after the conclusion of 1982’s Blade Runner. Production is expected to start in the summer of 2016.
The original movie was adapted from the Philip K. Dick novel, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.” ~Suzanne Coolen