Was Deckard a Replicant? Was he human? Ridley Scott gave us his opinion on the commentary track and in the special features of the recent Blade Runner: Final Cut release and perhaps he will now explore the idea further. Deadline reports Scott plans to return to the world of Blade Runner, but it’s not clear whether the goal is to create a sequel or a prequel to the 1982 film that was loosely based on the Philip K. Dick novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”
The original film was set in Los Angeles in 2019 where a man we come to know as Deckard (played by Harrison Ford) is called out of retirement to kill four escaped Replicants–genetically derived androids of great strength, intelligence and nearly-human emotion who serve as slaves and prostitutes on Off-world planets. Led by Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), these Replicants come to Los Angeles to confront their designer, Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel), with their unhappiness about the brevity of their four-year life span.
I have to believe they are looking at a prequel idea, perhaps similar to what Ridley Scott is doing with Prometheus, which was once looked at as being a prequel to Alien, but instead became a prequel in the same world Alien inhabited, but not necessarily about the Alien franchise narrative. Perhaps we’ll be plopped down in the Blade Runner world when Replicants were widely used Off-world and the events that led to the Replicant mutiny and the declaration they were to never return to Earth and the creation of the Blade Runner unit. That, of course, would be the more expected story.
Or, if Deckard really is a Replicant perhaps it will explore the story leading up to his creation and what the purpose behind it was. You can’t get an early ’80s Harrison Ford into your film, but you could explore what happened before he came into being. Perhaps he was modeled after his creator. Perhaps Ford could play a part in the film that way?
However, it would be very interesting to learn of what ideas they may have in store for a sequel. Would they bring back Harrison Ford and maybe even get Sean Young a day pass out of “Celebrity Rehab”? Problem here is that Replicants don’t age so I’m not sure how they would explain Ford and Young’s current state of natural human decay.
At this point there still is no script and no set dates. Scott is still working on Prometheus, which will hit theaters on June 8, 2012 and I wouldn’t expect him to get started on this until after that. I would guess we’re looking at something like a fourth quarter 2013 release if all goes exactly to plan. But that’s just a guesstimate.
