MICHELLE YEOH TO LEAD BLADE RUNNER SEQUEL SERIES AT PRIME VIDEO
Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh has been tapped to lead Prime Video's upcoming Blade Runner 2049 sequel series, our sister site Variety reports, marking the first piece of casting news about the follow-up since it was first confirmed more than a year ago.
The sci-fi franchise, which began with 1982's Ridley Scott-directed Blade Runner, is set in a dystopian Los Angeles, where artificial humans (aka "replicants") are built to work for a major corporation in space. But where there is oppression, there will always be advanced replicants willing to fight their way to freedom.
Prime Video is not confirming character details, but Yeoh is reportedly playing Olwen, a "replicant near the end of her life."
Titled Blade Runner 2099, the live-action series is being executive-produced by Scott, as well as Michael Green, who co-wrote 2017's Blade Runner 2049. Silka Luisa (Shining Girls) will serve as showrunner. Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson are also on board as executive producers, along with Ben Roberts, David W. Zucker, Clayton Krueger, Cynthia Yorkin, Frank Giustra, Isa Dick Hackett and Tom Spezialy.
"The original Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, is considered one of the greatest and most influential science-fiction movies of all time, and we're excited to introduce Blade Runner 2099 to our global Prime Video customers," Amazon Studios' head of global television Vernon Sanders said when the series was first announced. "We are honored to be able to present this continuation of the Blade Runner franchise, and are confident that by teaming up with Ridley, Alcon Entertainment, Scott Free Productions, and the remarkably talented Silka Luisa, Blade Runner 2099 will uphold the intellect, themes, and spirit of its film predecessors."