Blade Runner 2099

Main

• Michelle Yeoh as Olwen, a Replicant Blade Runner who is in the final days of her life.
• Hunter Schafer as Cora, Olwen's partner and a human pretending to be a replicant.
• Dimitri Abold
• Lewis Gribben

Recurring

• Katelyn Rose Downey
• Daniel Rigby
• Johnny Harris
• Amy Lennox
• Sheila Atim
• Matthew Needham
• Tom Burke
• Maurizio Lombardi
• Hugo Hamlet as Buster Friendly

Development

In November 2021, Ridley Scott announced that a pilot for a Blade Runner television spin-off had been written along with a series bible and initial plans for 10 episodes.^[4] In February 2022, the series title Blade Runner 2099 was revealed, and it was being developed for Amazon Prime Video. Silka Luisa joined as showrunner in addition to writing and executive producing the show, with additional writers from shows such as Watchmen and Star Wars: The Acolyte to be brought in. Luisa consulted with Blade Runner 2049 writer Michael Green on the series pitch with Luisa calling him an "important part" of the development process, providing guidance on developing the noir mystery for the series.^[5]

Scott had considered directing in the development phase.^[6] Amazon ordered it as a miniseries in September 2022, and Tom Spezialy joined as a writing executive producer.^[7] In March 2023, Jeremy Podeswa was hired to executive produce and direct the pilot episode.^[8] In February 2024, he exited the project due to scheduling conflicts, and Jonathan Van Tulleken took on the role of directing the first two episodes.^[9] Ariel Kleiman, Marcela Said, and Karena Evans were also hired to direct episodes of the series.^[10]

Casting

Co-leads Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer.

In May 2024, Michelle Yeoh joined the cast as Olwen.^[11] In June, Hunter Schafer joined the cast as the co-lead of the series.^[12] In July, Dimitri Abold and Lewis Gribben joined the cast in series regular role while Katelyn Rose Downey, Daniel Rigby, Johnny Harris, Amy Lennox, Sheila Atim, and Matthew Needham joined in recurring guest star roles.^[13] In August, Tom Burke and Maurizio Lombardi joined the cast in recurring roles.^[14]

Filming

The series was getting ready to begin shooting in Belfast, when the production was postponed due to the 2023 WGA strike.^[15] After the strike was over, the production ended up leaving Northern Ireland entirely. Roughly £1.5 million had been spent of £4.1 million awarded by the Northern Ireland Screen fund, but all money would be returned to the NI Screen fund upon the production's exit from the country. This did leave "a gap in Northern Ireland's production schedule" according to NI Screen fund's chief executive Richard Williams.^[16]

Production moved to Prague in early May 2024, with filming beginning there in June.^[11][17] Filming primarily took place at Barrandov Studios in Prague with additional filming in Barcelona.^[18] Rob Hardy, Ula Pontikos, Vanja Černjul, and Damián García served as cinematographers on the series.^[19][20][10] Filming concluded in late December 2024.^[21] In defining the look of Blade Runner 2099, Luisa referred to it as "sunshine noir" rather than the rainy, dark neon aethestic in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.^[2]

Post-production

Fiona Colbeck, Leo Trombetta, and Henk Van Eeghen are editors for the series.^[22][23][24]