Blade Runner Movies in Order: Including Short & TV Shows
In this article, we are bringing you the right way of watching one of the best sci-fi franchises of all time, Blade Runner. If you are not a big fan of the franchise, you probably believe there are only two movies in it, and that is all. But you couldn’t be more wrong, as you will see later in this article. So, let us show you how big the Blade Runner franchise is, what is the best way to watch it, and whether there will be more Blade Runner titles in the future.
How many Blade Runner movies are there?
There are currently only two Blade Runner movies. The original Blade Runner from 1982 and its sequel, titled Blade Runner 2049 from 2017. Other than that, there are three short Blade Runner movies: Blade Runner Black Out 2022, 2036: Nexus Dawn, and 2048: Nowhere to Run, all three from 2017. There is also an unofficial sequel to the first movie, Soldier, from 1998. We will let you know more about it later in the article.
How many Blade Runner TV shows are there?
There is currently only one Blade Runner TV show, and it is animated, called Blade Runner: Black Lotus from 2021. But, as was recently announced, another Blade Runner TV show is in the works, called Blade Runner 2099.
Blade Runner movies in order at a glance
Let us show you, in short, the best way to watch Blade Runner movies in order, check it out below.
- Blade Runner (1982)
- Blade Runner Black Out 2022 (2017)
- Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2021-)*
- 2036: Nexus Dawn (2017)
- Soldier (1998)*
- 2048: Nowhere to Run (2017)
- Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
- Blade Runner 2099*
Let us explain further the complete Blade Runner watching order.
Blade Runner movies and TV shows in order
As you can see from the above, the Blade Runner timeline is not as simple as an ordinary fan would think. There are featured films, shorts, TV shows, and even one unofficial movie set in the same Blade Runner universe. So let’s see what are those titles about below.
Blade Runner (1982)
Los Angeles, 2019. The city is overcrowded and dirty. On other planets, so-called colonies are formed. “replicants”, androids created by the Tyrell Corporation in the image and likeness of humans. Replicants develop their own feelings over time and are programmed to live only 4 years. They are stronger than humans, so a false memory of their childhood is implanted in them in order to live in the delusion that they are real humans.
Replicants are not allowed to come to Earth, and the special police organization “Blade Runner” is in charge of liquidating criminals. Rick Deckard from Blade Runner is tasked with eliminating several of them who have come to Earth and killed several people, led by Roy Batty. The problems begin when Rick falls in love with the replicant Rachael and begins to doubt the justification of the mission.
Blade Runner Black Out 2022 (2017)
In 2022, three years after the events of Blade Runner, the Tyrell Corporation developed the new Nexus-8 line of replicants, which now possess natural, open-ended lifespans equivalent to that of a regular human. This causes a massive backlash among the human populace, who begin hunting down and killing replicants, seeing them as a now very credible threat to humanity. One of these replicants, Trixie, is attacked by a group of thugs but is rescued by Iggy, who effortlessly disarms and kills them. Iggy reveals to her that he used to be a soldier on a planet called Calantha but deserted when he realized the enemy soldiers he had been fighting and killing were also replicants.
Iggy recruits Trixie for an operation carried out by an underground replicant freedom movement to destroy the Tyrell Corporation’s database of registered replicants as well as the core internet servers, so that replicants can no longer be hunted. Trixie befriends Ren, who is a technician in charge of launching nuclear missiles and a replicant sympathizer. Ren agrees to redirect a test missile to detonate over Los Angeles, blacking out the city and wiping out all electronic data.
At the same time, Trixie and Iggy hijack a fuel truck to physically destroy the Tyrell Corporation’s servers. However, Trixie is killed while battling security forces with Iggy. The operation is a success, with the servers powering the internet destroyed forever and power to Los Angeles disabled permanently. Iggy manages to escape and removes his right eye, the only thing that can identify him as a replicant.
The ending narration states that in the aftermath of the Black Out and subsequent global collapse, all replicant production and scientific activity was banned and the Tyrell Corporation, along with nearly every other company, went bankrupt, only for the Wallace Corporation to acquire the company and restart production of a new model a decade later.
Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2021-)
Blade Runner: Black Lotus is a Japanese–American CGI anime television series based on the Blade Runner franchise that aired from November 2021 to February 2022. It was a co-production between Crunchyroll and Adult Swim, in addition to being created in partnership with Alcon Television Group.
Black Lotus takes place in Los Angeles in 2032, 10 years into the aftermath of the Black Out 2022, but before 2036: Nexus Dawn, and centers on a female replicant protagonist. It also includes “familiar” characters from the Blade Runner universe.
2036: Nexus Dawn (2017)
Niander Wallace is called to a hearing about his desire to manufacture a new generation of replicants. Wallace is warned that what he is doing is illegal and not open to debate, which Wallace questions saying they are debating it. Wallace points out that Earth’s ecosystem is collapsing and the only thing that will be able to sustain the human race is cheap labor provided by replicants. He also claims the new replicants are not dangerous to humans, but the lawmakers remain unconvinced.
To prove this, he orders his replicant assistant, a newly developed Nexus-9, to purposely cut himself and then decide between Wallace’s life and his own. The replicant then cuts his own throat, shocking the lawmakers. Wallace once again asks them if they are willing to authorize the production of new replicants.
Soldier (1998)
Soldier is a 1998 American science fiction action film directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and written by David Peoples (credited as David Webb Peoples). In the DVD commentary of Soldier, Peoples revealed that he had written the film’s script in 1982, during the production of Blade Runner. In 1998, while promoting Soldier (then recently released), Peoples then revealed that he had written Soldier as a “spin-off sidequel-spiritual successor” to Blade Runner, seeing both films as existing in the same fictional universe. The film obliquely refers to various elements of stories written by Philip K. Dick, and film adaptations thereof.
Kurt Russell stars as elite, indoctrinated soldier Todd, who has been stripped of all feelings. He is a fighter who knows only one rule: kill or be killed. When he is defeated by a member of the future generation of fighters Caine, he is taken with the waste to a remote planet.
Peaceful residents find him and help him recover. Trained only for violence, Todd is at first wary and suspicious of everyone, but the hospitality of the members of the settlement where they brought him, Mace (Sean Pertwee) and Sandra (Connie Nielsen), finally begins to melt his coldness. Unfortunately, his luck doesn’t last long because when the ruthless Caine reappears, Todd must end the conflict once and for all.
2048: Nowhere to Run (2017)
In Los Angeles, in 2048, Sapper Morton is shown weeping hysterically into a mirror. He washes his face in a sink and puts on his glasses. Walking through a crowded street, he is briefly accosted by a group of thugs, whom he ignores. Greeted by Ella, he gives her the book The Power and the Glory to read, a book that he enjoyed. Leaving, Sapper goes to a market to sell leeches he has farmed, being paid $3,000, which is $1,000 less than Sapper needs.
After leaving the market, Sapper sees Ella and her mother about to be sexually assaulted by the group of thugs he had earlier ignored. Angered, Sapper proceeds to savagely beat the group and kills most of them, demonstrating superhuman strength and endurance in the process. Seeing Ella and her mother terrified at the violence, a remorseful Sapper leaves the scene, having dropped his identification papers. A spectator, having watched Sapper earlier, calls the LAPD to inform them that he thinks he has found a rogue “skin-job”.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Blade Runner 2049 is a 2017 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. A sequel to the 1982 film Blade Runner, the film stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, with Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Dave Bautista, and Jared Leto in supporting roles. Ford and Edward James Olmos reprise their roles from the original film. Gosling plays K, a Nexus-9 replicant “blade runner” who uncovers a secret that threatens to destabilize society and the course of civilization.
Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new exterminator, Los Angeles police officer K, discovers a long-hidden secret that has the potential to throw what little human society remains into utter chaos. His discovery will lead him to search for Rick Deckard, a former exterminator who disappeared three decades ago.
Blade Runner 2099
In November 2021, Ridley Scott stated that a pilot for a Blade Runner television series and the show’s bible had been written, with the project likely set to consist of 10 hour-long episodes. In February 2022, the series was officially announced to be in development, with the title of Blade Runner 2099. Silka Luisa has signed onto the project as writer, and executive producer.
Ridley Scott, Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Michael Green, Ben Roberts, Cynthia Yorkin, David W. Zucker, and Clayton Krueger will serve as additional executive producers. Scott is in early negotiations to serve as director for the episodes.
The project is being developed as a joint-venture production between Scott Free Productions, Amazon Studios, and Alcon Entertainment. The series is intended to be released via streaming as an Amazon Prime Video exclusive.
Will there be more Blade Runner movies and/or shows in the future?
Well, the first live-action TV show, named Blade Runner 2099, is currently in development. Other than that, during an interview with Yahoo! during a promotional tour for the 2015 film The Martian, Ridley Scott expressed interest in making additional films. In October 2017, Villeneuve said that he expected a third film would be made if 2049 was successful.
The writer of both films Hampton Fancher also revealed that he was considering reviving an old story idea involving Deckard traveling to another country, and Ford said that he would be open to returning if he liked the script. In January 2018, Scott stated that he had “another [story] ready to evolve and be developed, [that] there is certainly one to be done for sure”, referring to a third Blade Runner film.
