Ridley Scott announces the arrival of new Blade Runner TV series

Swapnil Dhruv Bose
TUE 23RD NOV 2021 

(Credit: Gage Skidmore)

The latest addition to the Blade Runner franchise is the anime series Black Lotus which recently premiered on Adult Swim. Set in a different timeline, the anime expands on the legacy of the haunting world constructed by the two films and Philip K. Dick’s book but attracted criticism for its animation style as well as other elements that feel manufactured.

As for the setting of the new anime series, the production company’s CEO Andrew Kosove explained: “The timeline falls about halfway between the end of the first ‘Blade Runner’ and the start of ‘2049.’ So we’re right in sort of that midway point where the character that, of course, Jared Leto plays in our movie, is coming into prominence and bringing his vision of what replicants can be to the world”.

According to the studio, they had hired two full-time employees with a job description that should have been taken care of by the writers. They spent their work hours keeping track of the various timelines and canons throughout the history of the franchise, making sure that no lapses take place.

“We have two people who work for us at Alcon whose — I wouldn’t say it’s their full-time job, [but] it’s the majority of their job,” Kosove said. “[They take it] really seriously, interweaving the different stories and making sure the timelines, the canon, the character motivations are all seamless and have a logic within the canon.”

Kosove added that the studio is especially concerned with the goal of sticking to the official canon. “Our goal at Alcon, because we’re the keeper of the Blade Runner IP, and therefore we take the canon of the franchise very seriously, because the fans, of which there are so many, have invested so much of themselves in the material.”

In an interview with the BBC, Ridley Scott revealed that a live-action TV series based on Blade Runner is already in the works: “We [have already] written the pilot for Blade Runner and the bible. So, we’re already presenting Blade Runner as a TV show, the first 10 hours.” Scott is also developing a TV show based on Alien which is being directed by Noah Hawley.

Blade Runner: Black Lotus is a co-production between Japan and America and is already highly anticipated by fans around the world. Watch the trailer below.