Robin Wright is in final negotiations to join Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling in Alcon’s “Blade Runner” sequel, Variety has reported. Ford is reprising his role of detective Rick Deckard, with “Sicario” helmer Denis Villeneuve directing. The untitled film will bow Jan. 12, 2018.
Sony Pictures Releasing International announced last month that it will distribute in all overseas territories in all media. Alcon has a longstanding domestic output agreement with Warner Bros.
The story, written by Hampton Fancher (co-writer of the original) and Michael Green and based on a story by Fancher and Ridley Scott, continues several decades after the conclusion of the 1982 original — which was set in a dystopian 2019 Los Angeles. It is unknown whom Wright will be playing and also unknown if she will be playing a human or replicant.
The original film, based on the 1968 Philip K. Dick story “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,” starred Ford as an ex-police officer tracking down escaped genetically engineered replicants who had returned to Earth illegally in order to extend their four-year life spans. In 1993, the film was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Principal photography on the sequel is scheduled to begin in July, with cinematographer Roger Deakins reuniting with Villeneuve on the project. Alcon Entertainment acquired the film, television and ancillary franchise rights in 2011 from the late producer Bud Yorkin and Cynthia Sikes Yorkin to produce prequels and sequels to the iconic science fiction thriller. Cynthia Sikes Yorkin will produce along with Alcon co-chiefs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove. Bud Yorkin will receive producer credit.
Scott will serve as executive producer. Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble, CEOs of Thunderbird Films, will also serve as executive producers along with Bill Carraro. The studio had been after Wright for some time, but her complicated “House of Cards” schedule made it appear unlikely that she would be available. Sources indicate Alcon was able to work out schedule issues, and a deal is expected to close.
Besides “House of Cards,” currently in its fourth season on Netflix, Wright is also filming “Wonder Woman.”
