Four months after we saw a brief teaser, the glorious first trailer for Blade Runner 2049 is finally here. The film is the long-awaited sequel to the 1982 cult classic directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford. It hits theaters on October 6, 2017.
The new film adds Ryan Gosling to the mix, with Arrival director Denis Villeneuve stepping in to direct. Although Scott was busy with Alien: Covenant, his Scott Free Productions was involved and he is an executive producer. Ford has returned to play Rick Deckard. Edward James Olmoss, who played the mysterious Gaff in the first film, also reprised his role.
Aside from Ford and Olmoss, the rest of the cast is new to the franchise. We know Gosling is playing a Los Angeles Police Department Officer named “K,” a new blade runner, who are required to hunt down the bioengineered replicants. After he learns a secret about the end of humanity, he finds Deckard, whose location has been unknown since he disappeared at the end of the first Blade Runner.
Oscar-winner Jared Leto also has a big role in the film. In behind-the-scenes footage shown at CinemaCon in March, it was revealed that Leto’s character is named “Wallace.”
In an Entertainment Weekly interview, Villeneuve said Blade Runner was one of the films that made him want to become a director in the first place.
“I remember the opening sequence perfectly,” Villeneuve, who said he’s seen the original thousands of times, told the magazine. “That note of music; seeing Los Angeles in 2019; that smog; that darkness. It’s really the movie that gave birth to my desire to become a director.”
The first Blade Runner movie was based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and opened in theaters in 1982. It was originally a box office disappointment, but is widely considered one of the best science fiction films ever made. It is even on the Library of Congress National Film Registry.
Hampton Francher, who co-wrote the original, wrote the screenplay for the new film with Michael Green (Alien: Covenant, Logan). It’s being released by Warner Bros. in the U.S. and Sony internationally.
The Cast of Blade Runner 2049
Ryan Gosling as LAPD Officer K
Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard
Jared Leto as Wallace
Edward James Olmos as Gaff
Ana de Armas as Joi
Barhad Abdi
Mackenzie Davis
Dave Bautista
Robin Wright
David Dastmalchian
Sylvia Hoeks
Lennie James
Carla Juri
