Last November Ridley Scott revealed that a pilot had been written for a new Blade Runner series and in February Amazon announced it to be in development.

They've now given limited series Blade Runner 2099 the go signal.

We can't help but be slightly concerned by the timing - hot on the heels of the well produced but canon-crushing fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

No we're not bothered by increased diversity and it's a fairly safe bet that neither would Tolkien.

But they didn't stop there.

Tolkien fans like ourselves can't help but be disappointed, but we wouldn't be surprised if it's a hit with viewers who know nothing of the franchise other than the Peter Jackson films.

Pessimistically we might worry that its success and the subsequent greenlighting of 2099 could indicate that Amazon feel confident casting continuity to the wind and they could do literally anything with it.

On the other hand this is a different production company - Alcon who brought us The Expanse and Blade Runner 2049.

Ridley Scott will also have a hand in it.

Optimistically we could hope that Amazon now feel confident throwing vast sums of money at genre series for eyepopping sets, props and special effects.

There's no ETA on Blade Runner 2099.

[ Main Image: Blade Runner 2049 - Ryan Gosling. Credit: Warner Bros. via IMDb.com. ]

References

Porter, Rick (September 15, 2022). ‘Blade Runner 2099’ Limited Series a Go at Amazon. The Hollywood Reporter.