“Alien” isn’t the only iconic Ridley Scott franchise getting a buzzy live-action television series. Speaking to the BBC on Monday (via Variety), Scott revealed that “Blade Runner” is getting the live-action TV treatment. Specifics of the project were not revealed, other than the following: “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.” Whether or not the series takes place after the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel “Blade Runner 2049” or is set at another point on the “Blade Runner timeline remains to be seen.
The “Blade Runner” franchise returned this month with the premiere of the animated series “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” on Adult Swim. The series is set between Ridley Scott’s original 1982 “Blade Runner” and Villeneuve’s 2017 sequel “Blade Runner 2049.” The show follows Elle (Jessica Henwick in the English-language version), a young woman who wakes up with deadly assassin skills but no memory of her past except a black lotus tattoo on her body. Elle’s mission to discover her identity fuses together elements of both Scott and Villeneuve’s films.
Scott’s “Blade Runner” series would make the franchise’s first trip to live-action television. Rumors of more “Blade Runner” content swirled in September after Alcon Entertainment co-founder and co-CEO Andrew Kosove revealed that employees at the company are tasked with keeping track of and figuring out ways to build out the “Blade Runner” universe. Alcon owns the “Blade Runner” IP. Kosove served as a producer on Villeneuve’s “Blade Runner 2049.”
“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,” Kosgrove 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.”
“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,” Kosove added.
The other Scott-franchise coming to television is “Alien.” That project is set up at FX with “Legion” and “Fargo” showrunner Noah Hawley in charge.
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