Amazon's Blade Runner 2049 Sequel Series Will Star A Proper Sci-Fi Legend

One of the biggest queens in all sci-fi is returning to the genre she helped legitimize. As much as fans (rightfully) heap praise on icons such as Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Fisher, and Linda Hamilton, may we never sleep on what Michelle Yeoh has done for science-fiction storytelling over the years. She certainly made her mark in Danny Boyle's "Sunshine," while going above and beyond in recent efforts like "Star Trek: Discovery," "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," and, of course, "Everything Everywhere All At Once."

Now, she's getting ready to do her thing all over again in "Blade Runner 2099," a sequel series long in the works that finally seems to be inching closer to reality. The buzzy casting news comes courtesy of Variety, which reports that the "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" star has been cast in the Prime Video show that's meant as a follow up to both the original 1982 "Blade Runner" and the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel "Blade Runner 2049." We first heard about this production back in 2022, when it was announced that Ridley Scott would be teaming up with showrunner Silka Luisa to further flesh out this cyberpunk world full of insidious corporations, desperate replicants treated as second-class citizens (if that), and very large Coca-Cola ads. So, you know, nothing that's too different from our own reality.

While much of the plot for this new series currently remains unknown, Variety at least teases that Yeoh will play a lead role as a character named Olwen, who is apparently "a replicant near the end of her life."