IMPATIENT MUCH?
We know, it’s hard to wait for the new BR 2049 release. But fear not!
“Blade Runner 2049†hits theatres in October, but thanks to a new short, introduced by director Denis Villeneuve, it looks like fans might not have that long to wait for their questions to be answered. The short, the first of three, is directed by Ridley’s son, Luke, and allows fans to get caught up on the events of the original, set in 2019 and the sequel which takes place 30 years later. Released exclusively to Collider, “2036: Nexus Dawn†features Jared Leto’s recluse scientist Niander Wallace and his vision for society to embrace replicants once again. Warner Bros. shared a teaser with fans at Comic-Con that provided a rundown of the events that had occurred in the “Blade Runner†universe following the original film. That timeline included the indefinite prohibition of replicant production in 2023, after an EMP was detonated on the West Coast causing the much talked about “blackout.†This makes Wallace’s plea in the short all the more important, as does the graphic demonstration his new model, the Nexus 9, endures for Benedict Wong and what looks to be a societal advisory board. Wallace explains his new model is driven by the preservation of human life, something that is acted out when the blind genius instructs the replicant to make a choice between killing itself or killing Niander. Since the timeline of “Blade Runner 2049†suggests that prohibition of replicants is repealed in 2036, it seems that Wallace makes his point.
Adds Ars Technica:
At Comic-Con last month, the filmmakers revealed what happened between the two films in a quick chart projected onscreen:
2019: Blade Runner Rick Deckard flees Los Angeles with a replicant named Rachael.
2020: The Tyrell Corporation introduces a new replicant model, the Nexus 8S, which has extended lifespans. (Dave Bautista plays one of these Replicants in 2049.)
2022: An EMP detonation causes a global blackout that has massive, destructive implications all over the world.
2023: A replicant prohibition is put into effect.
2025: A new company, Wallace Corp., solves the global food shortage and becomes a massive superpower.
2030: Replicant prohibition is repealed.
2049: Life on Earth has reached its limit, and society divides between replicant and human.
The short film, set in 2036, is confusingly out of sync with this timeline. Replicant prohibition is still in full effect when Wallace (of Wallace Corp., presumably) introduces the Nexus 9. Regardless of which timeline you want to use, it’s clear the events of this short film are shortly before replicant prohibition has been repealed. With his scary little demo, Wallace probably convinced various government officials that replicants are completely safe and should be allowed to exist again. More fascinating than the replicant timeline, though, is that EMP detonation. Apparently, it not only caused a global blackout, but also erased a bunch of history that had been chronicled in electronic archives. Maybe it erased the memories of replicants, too? Either way, the future of 2049 is missing a huge part of its history and is struggling to rebuild both from a massive global famine and an information black hole.
So ish is getting real. Very real.
Here’s the trailer (and commentary!) for you to see for yourself: