Blade Runner 2 Reveals Its Title And A Key New Detail

Blade Runner

You'd be hard pressed finding an upcoming blockbuster that's being as secretive as the Blade Runner sequel. Aside from Harrison Ford reprising Rick Deckard and a number of actors being added to the main cast, no specific plot details have been released, including who said actors will play. That's still the case today, but at least the powers-that-be have decided to cut fans a break by revealing one crucial detail. After more than a year of referring to it simply as Blade Runner 2, the sequel finally has an official title: Blade Runner 2049.

We've known for a while that this sequel would take place approximately three decades after the original Blade Runner, so Blade Runner 2049 is an appropriate title, setting the movie exactly 30 years later. When Blade Runner hit theaters in 1982, 2019 was seen as the distant future, but with only a little over two years until we reach that point, it doesn't have the same appeal. Now the sequel's 2049 setting is our distant future, so it can be that new exotic future. Okay, so maybe in reality 2049 won't look horribly more different than it does today, but in Blade Runner 2049, the sky's the limit for how weird things will be.

Along with the title announcement came a cool photo of stars Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling chatting with director Denis Villeneuve and producer Ridley Scott somewhere on the Blade Runner 2049 set. There aren't any plot details to be gleaned from the photo, it's just neat to see four of the production's biggest talents together.

Blade Runner 2049

So what do we know about the year 2049 in the Blade Runner universe? So far, only that the climate is awful. At this point, Los Angeles has spread across nearly all of the West Coast, but pollution has reached an all-time high, with the rain having become toxic. It's gotten so bad that during snow storms, tank-like vehicles called hover snow blowers frequently have to drive down the street to that people get pass down them with safe passage. In other words, conditions have only worsened since we were last in this bleak and dreary world.

Beyond that, we don't know what to expect from Blade Runner 2049 other than a return to a world filled with replicants and reuniting with an older-looking Rick Deckard. That said, at least we know most of the faces who will appear. Besides Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling, the cast includes Robin Wright, Dave Bautista, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Mackenzie Davis, Barkhad Abdi, David Dastmalchian and Jared Leto.

Blade Runner 2049 opens in theaters on October 6, 2017.

Adam Holmes
Senior Content Producer

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.