Blade Runner 2049 site explains the timeline since the original

Blade Runner 2049 site explains the timeline since the original

0 comments 📅23 July 2017, 22:42

Probably the most eagerly awaited movie of the whole of 2017 is the Blade Runner sequel, the question over whether it should even have been made has dividing sci-fi fans since it was first announced in 2011.

A brand new trailer dropped just before San Diego Comic-Con but at the Warner Bros. big Hall H extravaganza they showed off a new, pretty awesome looking site called Road to 2049, that offers some insight into what happened in the world of Blade Runner between Ridley Scott‘s epic 1982 film and the upcoming sequel, Blade Runner 2049. Set decades after the original, Denis Villeneuve‘s sequel follows Ryan Gosling as a new Blade Runner, LAPD Officer K, when his mission puts him on the track of Rick Deckard, played by Ford.

It’s not giving up any details about what Deckard has been up to all these year, though it does note that he escaped Los Angeles with the Replicant Rachel (Sean Young). However, a lot has happened in 30 years. There’s the fall and return of the Replicants and the rise of Niander Wallace (Jared Leto), a powerful force in the rebirth of new Replicant models who takes over Tyrell Corp. He’s also a pioneer of genetically engineered food, which feels like an important plot point in the sequel. Finally, there’s the fall of Los Angeles, ravaged by rising sea levels, poverty and disease.

What’s interesting to take note of here is that the future in the original actually looked pretty cool. If you like massive cities, tower blocks hundreds of stories high and a Neuromancer-esque lifestyle. We knew that people were leaving Earth in droves for the off-world colonies, but hey, if LA of all places was this awesome then other cities would be too, right? Then…suddenly, to fit in better with current thinking, somewhere along the line it all went south and the planet was thrown into utter chaos – usually environment related – and why not, it’s going to affect our future without a doubt, but we didn’t know this back in 1981, so it was never even considered. So, how could the story portray such a steep decline into catastrophic Mad Max maelstrom of decay in just 30 years? A terrorist EMP detonation…and Replicants are the prime suspects. Here at MYM, we think it was actually Daniel Ocean and an idiot with a crap cockney accent.

The details are as follows…

2018 – After a bloody mutiny by a Nexus 6 combat team in an Off-world colony, Replicants are declared illegal on Earth, under penalty of death.
2019 – A prototype Replicant, Rachael, and Officer Rick Deckard, a Blade runner, escape Los Angeles together.
2020 – After the death of founder Eldon Tyrell, the Tyrell Corporation rushes a new line of Nexus 8 Replicants onto the market for use Off-world. Unlike previous Nexus models, built with 4-year lifespans, the Nexus 8s have open-ended lifespans, as well as ocular implants for easy identification
2022 – The Blackout. An EMP of unknown origin detonates somewhere in the West Coast. Cities are shut down for weeks. Electronic data is corrupted or destroyed over most of the United States. Finance and trade markets crash worldwide. Food supplies become dire. Theories spread as to the cause of the Blackout; none are proven. The most popular blame Replicants.
2023 – Replicant Prohibition. The governing authorities legislate an indefinite “prohibition” on replicant production. Nexus 6 models are now all decommissioned due to their programmed 4-year lifespans. Surviving Nexus 8 models are to be retired. Those that can, go into hiding.
2025 – Idealistic scientist Niander Wallace pioneers advancements in genetically modified food and shares his patents for free, marking an end to a global crisis. His company, Wallace Corporation, E&C, expands across the globe and into the Off-world colonies.
2028 – Niander Wallace acquires the remains of the bankrupt Tyrell Corporation.
2030s – Niander Wallace improves upon Tyrells’ genetic engineering and memory implantation methods to make replicants obedient and controllable.
2036 – Prohibition is repealed. Wallace reintroduces a new line of “perfected” Replicants, The Nexus 9.
Early 2040s…The LAPD commits additional resources to bolster its existing Blade Runner unit, tasked with locating illegal Replicants and retiring them.
2048
2049 – When we return to Los Angeles, 30 years after the original movie, climate change has caused the sea level to rise dramatically. A massive Sea Wall has been built along the Sepulveda Pass to protect the Los Angeles basin. Los Aneles is even more uninhabitable than before and filled with poverty and sickness. Humans, who were not well enough to leave for the off-world colonies are left behind. There is no fresh food, and inhabitants survive on Wallace’s genetically modified food products sold from vending machines at street markets.

It’s an interesting world-building history that helps set the tone a little more. Just in case you want to watch the trailer again…it’s here…

Blade Runner 2049 opens on the 6th October, which is not long away at all.

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