Prime Video has unveiled a brand-new trailer for ‘Blade Runner 2099‘ at New York Comic Con, giving us another look at the highly anticipated sci-fi limited series starring Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) and Hunter Schafer (Euphoria). The eight-episode series arrives globally in November, taking us back to a very different Los Angeles where humanity has rather spectacularly lost control of its own creations.
The new footage was revealed during a panel featuring Yeoh and Schafer, alongside cast members Dimitri Abold (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), Lewis Gribben (Somewhere Boy) and Matthew Needham (House of the Dragon). Showrunner Silka Luisa and executive producers Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson were also on hand to discuss the next chapter of the iconic franchise.
And if you thought things were looking bleak for humanity in the previous films, apparently we’ve managed to make an even bigger mess of things in the intervening fifty years.
What Is ‘Blade Runner 2099’ About?
Set fifty years after the events of Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, the new series introduces a Los Angeles that has been reborn, although humanity isn’t particularly responsible for the renovations.
The Replicant uprising that had been simmering throughout the films has finally happened, and the humans lost. Replicants now control society, with their former creators reduced to second-class citizens. It’s quite the reversal of fortunes, and opens up some fascinating possibilities for a franchise that has always questioned what it means to be human.
At the centre of the story is Cora, played by Hunter Schafer, a human fugitive who has spent much of her life running. In one last attempt to escape her past, she adopts a new identity as a Blade Runner, which is a particularly bold career choice for someone who has spent years trying to avoid them.
She’s forced into an uneasy partnership with Olwen, played by Michelle Yeoh, a Replicant Blade Runner who has just days left to live. Together, they pursue a runaway harbouring a secret powerful enough to bring down the fragile society that has emerged in Los Angeles.
The new trailer offers a glimpse of this transformed world, with the franchise’s familiar cyberpunk atmosphere mixed with a society where the traditional power dynamics between humans and Replicants have been completely turned upside down.
A New World, But Familiar Questions
One of the more interesting aspects of ‘Blade Runner 2099’ is how it appears to be approaching the philosophical questions that have defined the franchise since Ridley Scott’s original 1982 film.
Back then, Replicants were fighting for freedom, identity and, most importantly, more life. Now they’ve effectively won, leaving humanity facing the prospect of its own extinction.
During the NYCC panel, Luisa explained that the series explores what happens when humanity realises its time as the dominant species might be coming to an end. Meanwhile, the Replicants themselves are struggling with questions of identity and purpose now that they’re the ones running everything.
Visually, the series is also looking to establish its own identity. Rather than simply recreating the rain-soaked streets of the original film or the striking landscapes of Blade Runner 2049, the production has embraced a hotter, more oppressive atmosphere to reflect a city and civilisation undergoing a strange kind of rebirth.
It’s an interesting direction, particularly as the Blade Runner universe has always been at its strongest when using its futuristic setting to ask deeply uncomfortable questions about humanity. Although, given our species’ track record in this universe, perhaps letting the Replicants have a go at running things isn’t the worst idea…
Who Else Is In The Cast?
Joining the two leads as series regulars are Dimitri Abold (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) and Lewis Gribben (Somewhere Boy).
The impressive recurring cast includes Katelyn Rose Downey (The Nun II), Daniel Rigby (Renegade Nell), Johnny Harris (A Gentleman in Moscow), Amy Lennox (Only Child), Sheila Atim (The Woman King), Matthew Needham (House of the Dragon), Tom Burke (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) and Maurizio Lombardi (Ripley).
Behind the camera, Silka Luisa (Shining Girls) serves as creator, showrunner and executive producer, with original Blade Runner director Ridley Scott also executive producing.
The series comes from Amazon MGM Studios and Alcon Television Group, the latter having previously produced Blade Runner 2049 and the rather excellent sci-fi series ‘The Expanse’.
Jonathan van Tulleken (Shōgun) serves as executive producer and directs the opening two episodes, which should give the series a suitably cinematic start.
With its impressive cast, some serious creative talent behind the scenes, and a premise that turns the original films’ central conflict on its head, there’s plenty of reason to be excited about this return to the Blade Runner universe.
Whether it can live up to the extraordinary visual and storytelling legacy of the two films remains to be seen, but the new trailer certainly looks promising. And with all eight episodes landing together, Prime Video is clearly expecting audiences to lose themselves in this particular dystopian future.
‘Blade Runner 2099‘ premieres Wednesday, 25th November 2026 on Prime Video in the UK and worldwide, with all eight episodes available at launch.
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