Summary

• Michelle Yeoh to lead Blade Runner 2099 as replicant Olwen, exploring themes of mortality and identity in the sci-fi series.
• Yeoh's role in Blade Runner 2099 continues her trend of joining franchises and elevating them with her iconic presence.
• Director Jonathan van Tulleken and writer/executive producer Silka Luisa onboard for Blade Runner 2099, filming underway in Prague.

The latest casting announcement for Blade Runner 2099 is continuing one actor’s thematic exploration that started with an Oscar-winning masterpiece two years ago. Blade Runner 2099 is a sequel series that will take place half a century after Blade Runner 2049 and continue its saga of replicants fighting for their personhood and right to life. After being delayed to accommodate the Hollywood strikes in 2023, filming is finally underway for the series. Executive-produced by Ridley Scott, the show will eventually release on Prime Video.

Jonathan van Tulleken has been tapped to direct the first two episodes of Blade Runner 2099 and Silka Luisa is working on the series as a writer and executive producer. Although shooting is already taking place in Prague, the producers are only just starting to reveal who’s in the cast. The series’ cast will be led by an Oscar-winning screen legend, and her Blade Runner role will allow her to continue a deep thematic journey she began with a different sci-fi opus two years ago.

Blade Runner 2099 Gives Michelle Yeoh A Chance To Repeat Themes From Everything Everywhere All At Once

It’s been confirmed that Michelle Yeoh has been cast in Blade Runner 2099 in the lead role. And not only that; some tantalizing details have been revealed about her character: Yeoh is playing a replicant named Olwen, who is nearing the end of her lifespan. This is similar to Roy Batty, the villain of the original Blade Runner movie, who spent the film desperately trying to get his creator to extend his lifespan. Failing that, he saved Rick Deckard and accepted his grim fate.

Considering this context, it seems as though Blade Runner 2099 will offer Yoeh the opportunity for a lot of self-reflection in her character. This gives Yeoh another chance to play a meatier, more dramatic role that isn’t just action, similar to what her Oscar-winning role as Evelyn Quan Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once did. In Everything Everywhere All at Once, Yeoh’s character contemplated how her life turned out and who she would become. In Blade Runner 2099, she’ll similarly reckon with her mortality, but as an artificial intelligence.

Yeoh Joining Blade Runner Continues Her Trend Of Joining Franchises & Elevating Them

Playing the lead role in Blade Runner 2099 won’t be the first time that Yeoh has elevated a franchise with her iconic presence. She reinvigorated Jackie Chan’s Police Story series with her turn as Inspector Jessica Yang Chien-Hua in Police Story 3: Super Cop. James Bond met his match when Yeoh made her Hollywood debut as Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies. She played Zi Yuan in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Ying Nan in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and she’s about to join the Avatar franchise.