Michelle Yeoh set to star in Blade Runner series on Prime Video
According to multiple media outlets in the US, the Academy Award-winning actress has been tapped to lead Blade Runner 2099 – a follow-up series to 1982's Blade Runner and 2017's Blade Runner 2049.
Michelle Yeoh at the 2024 Golden Globes. (Photo: AFP)
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Blade Runner 2099 might have just found its lead. According to multiple media outlets in the US, the follow-up instalment in the acclaimed science fiction franchise will feature Academy Award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh as its main character.
Blade Runner 2099 was first ordered by Amazon in September 2022 for its Prime Video platform. The series is believed to be set after 1982's Blade Runner and 2017's Blade Runner 2049. Plot details are still under wraps but Variety has reported that Yeoh will be playing a "replicant near the end of her life".
Based on the novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, the Blade Runner series is set in a dystopian future where humans have created replicants – humanoids that look like ordinary people and possess super strength and intelligence. The eponymous Blade Runners are police officers who hunt down rogue replicants.
The original Blade Runner film, starring Harrison Ford and Sean Young, has been regarded as one of the best science fiction movies of all time.
The news of Michelle Yeoh's involvement in the Blade Runner franchise comes days after she was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian award. According to US President Joe Biden, Yeoh "shattered stereotypes and glass ceilings to enrich and enhance American culture".
He added: "Her roles transcend gender, cultures and languages, from martial arts to romantic comedies, to science fiction, to show us what we all have in common...As the first Asian actor to win an Oscar as best actress, she bridges cultures not only to entertain, but also inspire and open hearts. And that's what she keeps doing."
