BLADE RUNNER 2 Adds to Cast, Changes Release Date
Blade Runner 2 has new additions to the cast.
Dutch actress Sylvia Hoeks has been added in what TheWrap calls a “coveted leading role” opposite Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling. Also in the cast are Robin Wright, Dave Bautista, and Ana de Armas.
Ford will reprise his role as Detective Rick Deckard, the “blade runner” in charge of hunting down renegade replicants. No word on the details of the sequel’s plot, but since Deckard ran off with Rachael, the young woman who didn’t know she was a replicant until the fact was uncovered by Deckard, it’s likely the story involves Deckard coming out of “retirement” again to face a new threat.
Hoeks began her modeling career with Elite when she was fourteen years old, and won the Dutch equivalent of the Academy Award, the Golden Calf, for her work in Duska (2007). She’s been an in-demand actress in the Netherlands since then. Her first international role was opposite Geoffrey Rush in The Best Offer in 2013.
Related~ The Blade Runner Meets Drax and Buttercup: Bautista, Wright Added to Sequel
Last week, Cuban actress Ana de Armas was also added to the cast, also in a “leading role” in the film.
“We think Ana is one of the most exciting, up-and-coming international actors in the world today, and we are thrilled she will be playing such an important part in this sequel,” Alcon’s Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove said in a joint statement.
Johnson and Kosove are producing for Alcon Entertainment along with Cynthia Sikes Yorkin. Bud Yorkin, the late producer of the original Blade Runner, will also get a producer credit. Original director Ridley Scott is executive producer. Denis Villeneuve is set to direct this new entry in the story.
The Blade Runner sequel, which still doesn’t have an official title, also has been moved on the release schedule, shifting three months earlier to October 6, 2017 instead of its original January 2018 date. This now puts it up against a Fox/Marvel project, yet to be announced. Originally, Gambit was scheduled for that weekend before being pulled from the 20th Century Fox slate of titles.
Still no word on whether Edward James Olmos will return as Gaff.
