Prime Video will premiere all 8 episodes of Blade Runner 2099 on November 25, 2026 in more than 240 countries and territories. The limited series from Amazon MGM Studios and Alcon Television Group is set 50 years after Blade Runner 2049 and stars Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer, and it joins 2 films, 3 prequel shorts and an anime series that span the years 2019 to 2049. Prime Video released the final trailer for the series on November 9. Check out the official trailer down below:
The Source: Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?
Every entry traces back to Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The book is set in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco after a nuclear war has badly damaged life on Earth, and it follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter assigned to "retire" 6 escaped androids of the new Nexus-6 model. Real animals have become expensive status symbols, while poorer people own electric imitations, the source of the electric sheep in the title. The films changed the setting to Los Angeles and replaced the word android with replicant.
Blade Runner (1982)
Ridley Scott directed Blade Runner from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, and it opened in 1,290 theaters on June 25, 1982. The film is set in Los Angeles in 2019, where the Tyrell Corporation builds synthetic humans called replicants to work on space colonies. When a fugitive group of advanced replicants led by Roy Batty, played by Rutger Hauer, returns to Earth, former cop Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, is pulled back in to hunt them down. Sean Young plays Rachael and Edward James Olmos plays Gaff, and Vangelis composed the score.
The film underperformed in North American theaters and split critics on release. It later became a cult film and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1993.
Which Cut Of Blade Runner Is Which
Blade Runner has been shown in 7 versions, either to test audiences or in theaters, and the 1982 US theatrical cut, the 1992 Director's Cut and the 2007 Final Cut are the ones that differ most in narration and ending.
The 1982 theatrical cut includes a voiceover from Ford that the film's financiers added after test audiences said they had trouble following the story, along with a "happy ending" in which Deckard and Rachael drive away from Los Angeles into the countryside. Scott did not have final cut on that version. The 1992 Director's Cut removed the voiceover and the happy ending and added a dream sequence of a unicorn running through a forest.
The Final Cut began a limited theatrical run in New York and Los Angeles on October 5, 2007 for the film's 25-year anniversary. It is the only version over which Scott had complete artistic and editorial control, and it restores the full-length unicorn dream. It is the version Prime Video lists as Blade Runner: The Final Cut.
Blade Runner Black Out 2022
The first story after the original film is Blade Runner Black Out 2022, an anime short directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and animated by CygamesPictures. It is set 3 years after Blade Runner, when the Tyrell Corporation's Nexus-8 replicants with open-ended lifespans have caused unrest. A replicant named Trixie and a replicant ex-soldier named Iggy join a movement that detonates a missile over Los Angeles, and the electromagnetic pulse wipes out electronic records so replicants can no longer be easily tracked. It debuted on Crunchyroll on September 27, 2017, and Warner Bros. posted it on its official channel:
Blade Runner: Black Lotus
Blade Runner: Black Lotus is a 13-episode animated series that aired from November 14, 2021 to February 6, 2022 as a co-production between Adult Swim and Crunchyroll in partnership with Alcon Television Group. It is set in Los Angeles in 2032, 10 years after Black Out 2022 and before 2036: Nexus Dawn. The lead character is Elle, a replicant created for a secret purpose, voiced in English by Jessica Henwick, and the cast also includes Niander Wallace Sr., voiced by Brian Cox, and his son, voiced by Wes Bentley.
The 2049 Prequel Shorts
Luke Scott, Ridley Scott's son, directed 2 live-action prequel shorts written by Fancher and Michael Green, who also wrote Blade Runner 2049. The first, 2036: Nexus Dawn, was released on August 30, 2017 and is set 13 years before Blade Runner 2049. Jared Leto's Niander Wallace appears before lawmakers and argues that his new line of replicants should be allowed into production because Earth's collapsing ecosystem depends on cheap replicant labor. Benedict Wong co-stars. Warner Bros. posted the short on its official channel:
The second, 2048: Nowhere to Run, followed on September 16, 2017 and is set 1 year before the sequel. Dave Bautista's replicant Sapper Morton protects a mother and daughter from thugs, and the fight leads to his status as a replicant being reported. Morton is the replicant K visits at the start of Blade Runner 2049. Here is the second short from Warner Bros.:
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Denis Villeneuve directed Blade Runner 2049 from a screenplay by Fancher and Green, and it opened in North America on October 6, 2017. Ryan Gosling plays K, a blade runner who uncovers a secret that threatens to destabilize society, and Ford and Olmos return as Deckard and Gaff. Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Dave Bautista and Jared Leto are in the supporting cast. Ridley Scott stepped down as director and served as an executive producer. The film was nominated for 5 Academy Awards and won for Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. Warner Bros.' official trailer is on its channel:
Story Order And Release Order
In story order, the screen entries run Blade Runner (2019), Blade Runner Black Out 2022 (2022), Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2032), 2036: Nexus Dawn (2036), 2048: Nowhere to Run (2048), Blade Runner 2049 (2049) and Blade Runner 2099 (2099).
In release order, they run Blade Runner (1982), the 3 prequel shorts (August to September 2017), Blade Runner 2049 (October 2017), Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2021 to 2022) and Blade Runner 2099 (November 2026).
Where The Films And Shorts Are Available
In the US, Prime Video lists Blade Runner: The Final Cut and Blade Runner 2049 for rent or purchase, along with a 3-film collection. Blade Runner: Black Lotus and Black Out 2022 are listed on Prime Video through the Crunchyroll channel add-on. The 3 prequel shorts are free on the official Warner Bros. YouTube channel. Blade Runner 2099 will stream exclusively on Prime Video.
Where Blade Runner 2099 Fits
Prime Video's official synopsis reads: "Fifty years after the events of Blade Runner 2049, Los Angeles has been reborn, just not by humanity. Cora, a fugitive in a final bid to stop running, takes on one last identity: a Blade Runner. Forced to partner with Olwen, a Replicant days from dying, she hunts down a runaway hiding a truth that could collapse a fragile city."
Schafer plays Cora and Yeoh plays Olwen, with Dimitri Abold and Lewis Gribben as series regulars. Silka Luisa is the showrunner, creator and an executive producer, and Ridley Scott, Michael Green and Isa Dick Hackett are among the executive producers. Jonathan van Tulleken, who worked on Shōgun, directed the first 2 episodes. The final trailer followed a New York Comic Con trailer for Blade Runner 2099 in October, and Prime Video's detail page rates the series TV-14.
Which Blade Runner story do you think Blade Runner 2099 will connect to most directly, the original Final Cut, Blade Runner 2049 or the Wallace Corporation era of Black Lotus and the prequel shorts?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.