SDCC NEWS: Yeoh heads to 2099 for BLADE RUNNER series…

This November, one of the most classic genre films in movie history continues its legacy in a series format.

Following the mythology laid down by the original Blade Runner  (starring Harrison Ford, Rutget Hauer, Sean Young and Daryl Hannah) and the sequel Blade Runner 2049, (featuring Ford, Ryan Gosling, the new series Blade Runner 2099 stars legendary Asian actor and top-level martial-artist Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and Cuckoo. The supporting cast includes Dimitri Abold, Lewis Gribben, Katelyn Rose Downey, Daniel Rigby, Johnny Harris, Amy Lennox, Sheila Atim, Matthew Needham, Tom Burke and Maurizio Lombardi.

The story flips some of the established narrative.  Yeoh plays a Replicant Blade Runner named Olwen whose limited life-span is winding down and Hunter Schafer as Cora, a damaged, somewhat nihilistic human pretending to be a Replicant who works alongside her. Echoing some of the idea of WestWorld series, the 2099 series shows us a future in which the Replicants – robots with the appearance of being humans, but having the pros and cons of better strength yet lesser lifespans)  and once on the verge of extinction –  have gained the upper hand. A war happened and humanity basically lost.

The trailer, released at the start of this year’s SDCC, certainly echoes the look and feel of the original film, the sprawling neon-hued metropolis with a distinct future-noir vibe…