Harrison Ford to Return for Blade Runner Sequel? (UPDATED)

Posted by on February 6th, 2012   Filed under: Rumours, Sci-fi
Source: Twitch

Update: Alcon Entertainment has since denied the rumour: “The casting of the movie could not be further from our minds at this moment.”

When it was first announced last year that some sort of Blade Runner sequel or prequel was in development at Alcon Entertainment, it seemed like a pretty questionable idea. Without anyone from the original creative team involved, the project lacked legitimacy… that is, until Ridley Scott signed on to direct. Many of the naysayers started to change their tune once they heard that he would be involved, but it was still unclear what kind of story he wanted to tell. The only thing we knew was that Harrison Ford would not be involved, and that it would be a “total reinvention” of the original film. Well, actually you can scratch that, because we have recently received word that Harrison Ford may be involved in this new Blade Runner project after all. Of course, just how extensive that involvement will be remains to be seen.

According to Twitch, Harrison Ford has “entered into early talks to join the new Blade Runner.” They didn’t have any other details to offer at this time, but they hinted that this would mean the film was a direct sequel to Blade Runner as opposed to a reboot or spin-off. If it is true, this is very intriguing news indeed.

Assuming that the plan is to once again focus on Rick Deckard as the protagonist, this brings up a few questions. If Deckard is actually a replicant (which Scott has insinuated in the past), there would be a lot of make-up or CG required to make Ford look like he did in the original film. Also, at 69 years old, Harrison Ford is not really up for much in the way of action scenes anymore (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull might dispute that a little bit, I suppose). On the other hand, maybe they’re planning a completely computer-generated Deckard like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appearance in Terminator: Salvation. What do you think? Could Harrison Ford’s involvement be a good thing or is this a sign that we’re about to get yet another regrettable sequel to an iconic film?



  • Colin

    Ridley’s stance has always been that Deckard is a Replicant, so this seems to make absolutely no sense to me… first thing I though was, “How the hell are they going to explain his aging? Will they be like, ‘Oh, he’s a Nexus-7, now with realistic Aging Technology™!'” or something equally terrible.

    Other questions: Will Sean Young return? Will Edward James Olmos return? Will it still be set in 2019?

    As for the action bit, Blade Runner was never really an action movie… it had a bit of tussling at the end, but you could hardly equate that to the other action movies of the day, so that shouldn’t be much of a worry.

  • kyri

    they can use the aging thing to resell the same oxymoron man, you never really knew if Deckhard was an android anyway

  • mark

    Despite what Ridley Scott says, the real Rick Deckard is not a replicant. It might be interesting to see what course his life takes and what becomes of Tyrell. There are several spin-off novels that were written after the movie’s release.

    This could be a nice opportunity to explore some of the themes of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep that Blade Runner seems to ignore, like Mercerism and the Empathy Boxes.

    Though, in all honesty, I’d rather see a remake with a new cast and fresh director.

  • patrik

    I hope not. Unless he’s the chief handing out a mission to the new Blade Runner. I actually don’t mind another movie in this universe though.

    And Deckard is not a fucking replicant, he takes the void kampff test in the book and it turns out negative.

  • You guys are assuming that Ridley Scott’s intention was to retell the story contained in the book. It’s pretty clear that he had his own ideas about where he wanted to take it.

  • Mike H

    I think that they should keep HArrison the way he is and do not make him a CG of any kind, i mean the Arnie CG in Terminator was crap, and even Jeff Bridges in the newest TRON was retarded.

  • Huey

    All I know is my friend Bob hates everything related to sequels ever since Crystal Skulls came out, and my friend Bob knows his shit.

  • Jonny Ashley

    The film and the book are so fundamentally different that the two Deckards can hardly be said to be the same character. Anyways, if Ridley Scott is behind it, they could cast the Nasinex Bee as Deckard and I would still be interested, if Prometheus is any indication.

  • patrik

    Sure they’re different but everyone except Ridley Scott seems to be against the idea of Deckard being a replicant, especially Ford. What kind of a weak ass model would he be anyway, he gets his ass kicked by every Nexus six.. Doesn’t seem to be any stronger than a human being. It also seems stupid to have Batty make all these grand statements to another machine.

    As I said though, I wouldn’t mind another movie in this universe. They could do anything really but I’d rather not see it tied to Deckard/Ford in any way unless he simply handed out a mission to a new Blade Runner or something small like that.

  • kyri

    The movie addresses themes that occupy chapters in the dense book with simple scenes like the scene with the pidgin, it’s a simply brilliant adoption, In the novel Deckard is married and owns an electric ship, both book and film are masterpieces in their own art form, but I don’t think it is that clear in the novel if he is or not an android, after-all he wakes up by a surge of electricity – he is a guy hired by the police to kill Andys, why? Why not a cop? maybe because androids cannot become police officers? – many of the androids in the novel don’t know that they are not humans anyway.. That is the beauty of Philip K Dick, you never know exactly was it going on. It’s the magic of I chin.. the devil.

    :)

  • kyri

    sheep.

  • patrik

    #10

    He takes the test and it shows he’s not a replicant.

  • kyri

    meh.

    ..only a pilled arm test can reveal the truth