First Trailer for 'Blade Runner 2099' Reintroduces the Original Flavor to New Audiences
At San Diego Comic Con’s Hall H, the secretive series finally showed what’s in store for fans with a trailer and sneak peek of the new Prime series.
Following the events of Blade Runner 2049, the replicants in the highly touted ‘Blade Runner 2099’ have incited revolution across the globe, and changed the future as we know it. Replicants are at the top of the theoretical food chain on planet earth, and humans are now enslaved and hunted. Hunter Schafer plays Cora, a human pretending to be a replicant. Michelle Yeoh co-leads as Olwen, a replicant and Blade Runner who is nearing the end of her life.
The trailer showed plenty of abstract cyberpunk, grit and sweaty aesthetics that fans attribute to the Blade Runner vibes. Hunter Schafer especially seems perfectly suited to the world of the series. Her wardrobe and charisma guide us through the sights and sounds of a world recovering from revolution.
At San Diego Comic Con, Showrunner Silka Luisa discussed pivoting back to the original film’s production style rather than 2049. Luisa mentioned wanting to focus on deep shadows and hot highlights of images, ascribing a post-war rebirth of a city, the rebirth of their original characters and a chaotic energy of this new world order. She wanted it to hopefully feel familiar but presented in a completely different fashion.
Herein lies the problem with this approach in the trailer so far: It brings nothing new to the table. The original film is a massive game changer for the landscape of science-fiction and cinema as a whole. 2049 surpassed all expectations when it came following up a classic while presenting director Denis Villenueve’s own unique vision of the material. What does this trailer show for 2099? It is certainly familiar, with iconic imagery, but not overly inspiring or ambitious in terms of new landscapes or visuals. 2049 has an brutal cleanliness and took us to new locals, new environments. Perhaps it is just the limitations of television budgets but the single scene we saw with Hunter Schafer only felt like it took place in a claustrophobic office space. The scene itself is essentially a torture sequence so the limits of the visuals are justified. But with an upcoming release date this November, surely there would be more to engage audience expectations other than more Blade Runner.
There could always be the chance that the series is holding back narrative for the sake of avoiding plot spoilers. But until then, maybe the series will succeed in bringing new fans to the series. Hopefully it can provide some more ambition along the way.