It seems like thirty years since the Blade Runner sequel Blade Runner 2049 was announced. Despite rumors, speculation, and a few charming Harrison Ford stories courtesy of lead Ryan Gosling, we still haven’t heard word one about what Blade Runner 2049 will actually be about. Now our wait is over though, as Trailer Track (via Comic Book Movie) provides us with an actual synopsis of the anticipated film, and it reads as follows:
Ladies and gents, seems we could also be getting, yes, the #BladeRunner2049 teaser trailer today. Official synopsis: pic.twitter.com/SXOaCsvuCZ
— TrailerTrack (@trailertrack) December 19, 2016
OK, so that doesn’t tell us much about Denis Villeneuve’s sequel to Ridley Scott’s classic sci-fi, but it’s at least something. Will Blade Runner 2049 answer some of the lingering questions about Blade Runner that have plagued fans? Will it live up to its predecessor, or succumb to the sequel curse? And can Ryan Gosling possibly replace Harrison Ford as the lead?
We’ll know the answers to these questions soon enough-perhaps even sooner than expected, as a trailer for Blade Runner 2049 is expected to drop very soon, perhaps even today or tomorrow. When the footage hits, we’ll at least get a taste of the film’s aesthetic and the potential for it to either massively disappoint or (hopefully) prove a worthy successor to Ridley Scott’s original.
Sequels always have an uphill battle, and sequels to films now considered iconic are at an even greater disadvantage, as there’s a long history of fan experience and expectation to contend with. Ridley Scott’s attempt to provide a prequel of sorts to his Alien franchise wound up offending most of the movie-going world, while the recent Star Wars films seem to be living up to their iconic forebears.
It’ll be a while before we know where Blade Runner 2049 sits on the sequel scale – the film doesn’t hit theatres until October 6th, 2017 – but with the cast that’s attached (Ryan Gosling, Jared Leo, Dave Bautista, Robin Wright), we feel optimistic that it can deliver.
