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For those trying to work out just what to expect from Blade Runner 2049, set to bow Friday, Warner Bros. has offered three clues, in the form of short movies inspired by Denis Villeneuve’s sequel to the 1982 sci-fi classic. They are three projects that fill in the gaps between 2019 (when the original movie takes place) and the year 2049 of the sequel. Black Out 2022, 2036: Nexus Dawn and 2048: Nowhere to Run are less complete narratives as much as puzzles waiting to be unlocked — but what, if anything, can they tell us about the future of a world filled with lifelike Replicant androids and people who make a living hunting them down? Here’s what you need to know.
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Black Out 2022
The animated Black Out from Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe simultaneously ties off one thread from the first film while expanding on another; set, for the most part, three years after the events of the original Blade Runner, the short teases events around the Black Out — a global event caused by Replicants that leads to power outages and the loss of data as a result — while also flashing back, momentarily, to intergalactic conflict that references Roy Batty’s dying speech from Ridley Scott’s movie. (The Black Out, judging by what’s briefly seen onscreen, also appears to permanently change the landscape of Los Angeles.)
There are multiple clues laid down in this short that could be picked up in Blade Runner 2049, from dialogue suggesting that Nexus 8 Replicants (those in Blade Runner were Nexus 6) have an unlimited lifespan to mentions of a human supremacy movement that not only started keeping track of all know Replicants via the Replicant Registration Database — presumably lost as a result of the Black Out — but eventually outlawed the production of Replicants altogether, a decision that forced the Tyrell Corporation out of business. So who will make Replicants now…?
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