Blade Runner 2099 Filming Postponed

Amazon’s Blade Runner 2099 TV series has postponed filming dues to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Strike that is still going on in Hollywood. Blade Runner 2099 had been filming in Belfast, Ireland, and word that the production has been halted has sent a wave of disappointment through the local community: 

“Northern Ireland Screen is extremely disappointed that Blade Runner 2099 is not going ahead at this time due to the ongoing writers’ strike,” says a statement shared by Screen Daily. “The project has been prepping on the ground in Belfast for many months now. The WGA strike has been halting production all over the world and we hope a fair deal is reached soon so the crew can get back to work.

This obviously leaves a gap in Northern Ireland’s production schedule and Northern Ireland Screen will do everything it can to plug that gap as quickly as possible, mindful that many freelance crew and supply chain companies were relying on this project for work in the months ahead.”

Blade Runner 2099 will be a limited live-action series from Alcon Entertainment and Scott Free Productions. Blade Runner director Ridley Scott will serve as an executive producer, along with Silka Luisa (Shining Girls), who will serve as showrunner and executive producer. Michael Green (Logan), the writer of the sequel film Blade Runner 2049, is set as a non-writing executive producer. Game of Thrones director Jeremy Podeswa was tapped to direct the pilot for Blade Runner 2099 and serve as an executive producer.

 There was no specific timetable for release on the platform, but Blade Runner 2099 will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. No details on the story or cast and characters have been revealed, but obviously, there’s a fair amount of presumption to me made that like Blade Runner 2049, the series will examine how the intertwined existences of humans and replicants continue to evolve fifty years further into the future. 

“The original Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, is considered one of the greatest and most influential science-fiction movies of all time, and we’re excited to introduce Blade Runner 2099 to our global Prime Video customers,” Vernon Sanders, head of global television, Amazon Studios, said when Blade Runner 2099 was announced, “We are honored to be able to present this continuation of the Blade Runner franchise, and are confident that by teaming up with Ridley, Alcon Entertainment, Scott Free Productions, and the remarkably talented Silka Luisa, Blade Runner 2099 will uphold the intellect, themes, and spirit of its film predecessors.”

Blade Runner 2099 is in development at Amazon Studios