Blade Runner 2099 cast member Tom Burke says the Prime Video series closer to the aesthetic of the first movie than to the 2049 sequel
Last year, the Prime Video limited series Blade Runner 2099 – which is, of course, a continuation of the franchise that began with the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner and then got a long-awaited follow-up called Blade Runner 2049, which had Denis Villeneuve at the helm, in 2017 – made its way through production. We’re waiting to hear when the show is going to premiere, but in the meantime, cast member Tom Burke (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) has told Variety that Blade Runner 2099 is closer to the aesthetic of the original film than to 2049.
Tom Burke stars in the series alongside Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Hunter Schafer (Euphoria), Dimitri Abold (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), Lewis Gribben (Somewhere Boy), Katelyn Rose Downey (The Nun II), Daniel Rigby (Renegade Nell), Johnny Harris (A Gentleman in Moscow”), Amy Lennox (Only Child), Sheila Atim (The Woman King), Maurizio Lombardi (Ripley), and Matthew Needham (House of the Dragon).
Abold, Gribben, Downey, and Rigby have series regular status, while Harris, Lennox, Atim, and Needham are recurring guest stars. Burke and Lombardi both have recurring roles on the show.
Blade Runner 2099 was originally expected to start shooting in Belfast in the summer of 2023, but the Hollywood strikes put the kibosh on that plan. Once the show went into production last year, filming took place place in Prague and then moved over to Barcelona.
Shining Girls creator Silka Luisa is the writer, showrunner, and executive producer of the series, which has Ridley Scott executive producing through his Scott Free production banner. Alcon Entertainment co-founders Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson, Alcon’s President of Television Ben Roberts, David W. Zucker and Clayton Krueger from Scott Free Productions, Tom Spezialy, Richard Sharkey, Michael Green, Cynthia Yorkin, Frank Giustra, and Isa Dick Hackett are also executive producing. Steven Johnson is co-executive producer. Jonathan van Tulleken (Shogun) directed the first two episodes.
When this project was first announced in 2022, Amazon Studios head of global television Vernon Sanders said, “We are honored to be able to present this continuation of the Blade Runner franchise, and are confident that by teaming up with Ridley, Alcon Entertainment, Scott Free Productions, and the remarkably talented Silka Luisa, Blade Runner 2099 will uphold the intellect, themes, and spirit of its film predecessors.“
Tom Burke told Variety, “There was a moment of just letting go… I was like, ‘OK, we’re really going out there with this.’ … (The series is) much closer to the aesthetic of the first movie than the second movie, that somewhat kind of Baroque, eclectic mix of cultures and time periods. … It’s a lot to do with that thing quite intrinsic to the source material in the movie, which is actually what makes somebody human and what makes somebody not human. Or when does somebody cross some threshold. Can we really have a full sense of humanity without being very aware of our own dual sides? We all have the capacity for great evil as well as great good. I suppose every genre does that to some extent, but I do feel that the morality, that whole kind of thing is handled so well in the Blade Runner world, to me. It’s got subtleties and nuances to it that I don’t think necessarily all sci-fi always has.“
What do you think of what Tom Burke had to say about Blade Runner 2099? Are you looking forward to this show? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
