Blade Runner 2099<\/a>, humanity only has about 73 years left, which sounds about right. In the Prime Video limited series, set 50 years after Blade Runner 2049, the simmering conflict between the artificial beings, known as Replicants, and humans has erupted into outright war, and humans lost. The series, creator Silka Luisa (Shining Girls) said at the show\u2019s NYCC panel, is about \u201cwhat happens when our time as a species ends \u2026 can we accept that loss, and hold onto our humanity?\u201d<\/p>\nLike the Blade Runner films, 2099 will explore that question through the lens of a detective story. Michelle Yeoh plays the Replicant Blade Runner Olwen, who is at the end of her lifespan and embarks on one last hunt that causes her to cross paths with Cora (Hunter Schaefer), a human posing as a Replicant.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to be a mere human,\u201d Yeoh joked in front of the crowd assembled in front of\u00a0New York Comic-Con\u2019s Empire Stage. As an incredibly physical actor, she thought a lot about how she would modify her performance to accentuate her lack of humanity, but ended up getting philosophical because you\u2019re not really supposed to be able to tell the difference between human and Replicant. Empathy, she decided, was the differentiating factor. \u201cWhen you show concern for another person \u2014 [Replicants] are more about just doing things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Empathy being humanity\u2019s defining quality in the face of an artificial intelligence that has subjugated us to its will certainly feels timely, perhaps in a way that wasn\u2019t intended. But the probing of humanity, and how different characters on both sides of the divide seek it out or lose it is one of the major themes of the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cReplicants are in control, but they are made in our image, so they have our desires,\u201d Luisa said, noting, for example, how a Replicant red light district in the show is very different from one frequented by humans. \u201cInstead of selling sex, they sell experiences.\u201d A new trailer shows this eerie roleplay for sale, as a Replicant woman wears a prosthetic belly with a squalling animatronic baby in her arms, umbilical cord still attached.<\/p>\n
This is Blade Runner 2049 examining the other end of this new status quo. Replicants are also looking for their identity as the dominant species, and if God made humans in his image as humans did for Replicants \u2014 well, some Replicants might want to find out how to become gods.<\/p>\n
But Blade Runner isn\u2019t just known for cerebral questions about existence and purpose, it\u2019s also known for breaking visual ground. Luisa noted how original film\u2019s vision of 2019 is indelibly unique, and the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel brought its own visual flair to the universe, so\u00a0 it was important to find a new aesthetic for 2099.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about a birth \u2014 the birth of a city, a society, a new era,\u201d Luisa said. \u201cWhen I think of birth, I think: hot, sticky, chaotic. That informs the look of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s reflected in the clips shown to the audience, which, unlike the previous films, really gives the sense that this place smells. People sweat under a perpetual golden haze, and in one scene, Matthew Needham\u2019s squirrelly cop remarks that he knows where people come from based on how they smell, different pollutants marking different neighborhoods. Him? He\u2019s from L.A. \u201cDon\u2019t I smell like sunshine?\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n
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