BLADE RUNNER 2049 is coming up quick, fellow replicants. It will be in Australia in early October. The new movie is set 30 years after the original and to help us work out what happened during those intervening years, Denis Villenueve, 2049’s director, has gestured hypnotically and persuaded three moviemakers to create short films that explain the events leading to 2049.
First to emerge is 2036: NEXUS DAWN.
It shows us Niander Wallace, the replicant manufacturer, as played by Jared Leto, He is lobbying a board of regulators about anti-replicant laws, which sounds as fun as disputing an interstellar trade embargo, but soon enough there are shocking actions that Wallace takes to underline his philosophical points. Nexus Dawn was directed by Luke Scott, son of Ridley Scott, whom you may know as the director of the original BLADE RUNNER. No one has discussed the possibility that Scott the younger is actually a brilliantly designed replicant rather than a natural directorial offspring. Keep watching this space.
The sequel comes out on October 5, so expect the other two shorts to arrive before then and shed light on what went down since the first film. Now, sit back, imagine you’re listening to the music of Vangelis and enjoy 2036: Nexus Dawn.
