EXCLUSIVE: Original Replicant to Return in Blade Runner 2049 as CGI

Blade Runner 2049 has more going for it than most movies. Firstly it is a direct sequel to the original and it has the original movies writer (Hampton Fancher) involved… oh and it’s Rated R! Denis Villeneuve (Sicario) will direct and judging the the recent trailer and with the retro 80s music to boot- we’re on board and hope it will be great!

We can now reveal that a source close to the production of Blade Runner 2049 has informed us that the power of CGI will bring a Replicant character from the cult 1982 film back for the theatrical Blade Runner sequel. While we can’t be specific of which Replicant this will be; we have a few theories which we will discuss below.

The digital CG Replicant character’s appearance in the movie will be at least 10 shots of film or more, so it won’t be a blink of the eye cameo.

The technology is improving vastly for the ability to de-age, resurrect actors from death or as with with the Terminator franchise; where we have seen a younger Arnold Schwarzenegger brought back for Terminator Salvation and even to have a death-match with himself in Terminator Genisys which was credited by most Terminator Fans as being the best part of the movie.

The latest effort by Hollywood was to bring Peter Cushing back from the dead as Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and for those who didn’t know who Peter Cushing is (shame on you) it went totally unnoticed to some moviegoers who were not familiar with the actors passing/previous involvement with the saga that it was even CGI, obviously some with a keen eye will see CGI a mile off but it is improving from the days of The Rock as The Scorpion King… This goes to show that the technology is improving at a vast rate and if filmed/executed right it can be achieved (fooling the audience is the ultimate goal).

The CGI Replicant in Blade Runner will obviously utilize a younger body double and in this case the original actor should be very much living so a process of motiontracking and 3D scanning of the original actor would be a common place to make it happen.

So, which Replicant is going to be brought back to the big screen?

Replicants are described as Skin Jobs, the NEXUS 6 models being an improvement on the previous models and thus more believable as human (sound familiar to Terminator Fans…? A little like the 600 series in comparison to the 800 series of Terminator).

At the start of the original Blade Runner it is explained that there were 6 Replicants; 3 male, 3 female and that 2 were destroyed in an attack on the Tyrell Corporation (a little like Cyberdyne Corp). The surviving Replicants went on to be part of the movie and the plot after that bit of backstory.

So how can a Replicant from the 1982 movie come back from the 2019 setting to the 2049 setting of the new Blade Runner… after all the Replicants were seeking answers to a longer life as the defect of their condition as a Nexus 6 Model was an accelerated aging process and a short lifespan…

While the movie featured various Replicants there are only a few we would bargain on a theatrical return for a sequel, obviously they would need to be recognized by audiences, fans and by newcomers- to what now looks to be turning into a possible franchise. Obviously expect a collectible too, so what is likely to sell most is another key to an answer.

Replicants Leon and Zhora didn’t have much screen time so we are going to check them off the list in terms of digital cameos, they were both killed in the original movie and we don’t think Hollywood would go to the effort of reviving them or spending big money on bringing them back again.

So who do we think could be back… Here is our top 3 followed by a wild card….

1. Roy Batty – Rutger Hauer

Rutger Hauer was an iconic Replicant of the original and a villain of sorts even though the real villain was the Tyrell Corporation itself for messing with science, nature and humanity.

A CGI assisted cameo from Rutger Hauer would go down well with fans if done correctly and would normally be one of our most likely bets as a digital cameo but he did die,- so they’d have to remake him for him to be back but as we say a lot on this website with good ideas and good writing anything is possible in the world of film. Can we be one hundred percent sure he even died in the first place?

2. Pris – Daryl Hannah

Pris was Roy Batty’s love interest and also a Replicant, she had an iconic image in the movie and the plot of Blade Runner was fueled by Roy Batty’s need to ensure a longer life for both himself and Pris but he valued Pris’s life above his own. We do however think Hollywood would be keener to bring back Roy Batty over Pris though.

3. Rachael – Sean Young

A Replicant who did not know she was a Replicant (at the beginning of the film) and the love interest of Harrison Ford in Blade Runner, implanted with the memories of Tyrell’s niece, at the end of the first Blade Runner she technically went on the run with Deckard (Ford) did he manage to find a way to cheat her death or could she have been a new improved Replicant model (Nexus 7 perhaps had the ability to age) was Tyrell lying to Roy Batty (Hauer) when he said there was no cure to a longer life and that it would only lead to viruses that could kill the Replicant model itself…

4. The WILD CARD Harrison Ford; Rick Deckard

Ridley Scott revealed in the director’s cut via power of the unicorn- that Harrison Ford’s character was also unknowingly a Replicant… if Harrison is a Replicant then how has his character aged in Blade Runner 2049, that would suggest he is human after all… right? Could we be seeing Harrison Ford Vs Young Harrison Ford for the movie or is our Wild Card guess too long a shot?

Ridley wanted Deckard to be a Replicant but the writer Hampton Fancher wanted that to be an eternal question for the audience that never got an answer and Ford himself wanted Deckard to be human so it could be a character the audience could connect with.

Or could it simply just be showing Harrison’s Ford’s character Deckard in flashback scenes as younger to fill in the stories gaps, time will tell if there is more than one Harrison Ford in this movie. Maybe Rick Deckard (Ford) in the first movie was a Replicant of the human Harrison Ford… we will see in 2049. Got a headache yet? But we think it is a positive that we have so many questions about the Blade Runner sequel… it could be unpredictable and complex but still peaks our interest.

So, there we have it, only so many Replicants can make a CGI de-aged comeback for Blade Runner 2049…

Which Replicant do you think it will be or which do you want it to be… tell us in the comments below!

Here are the top 3 fan guesses from around the internet…