The world of Blade Runner is heading back to screens with a new generation of characters, a transformed Los Angeles and a mystery that could threaten the future of an entire city.
Prime Video unveiled a new trailer for Blade Runner 2099 at New York Comic Con, offering one of the clearest looks yet at the upcoming limited series starring Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer.
Set 50 years after the events of Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, the eight-episode series moves the famous science-fiction franchise into a new era while continuing its long-running questions about humanity, artificial life and what separates people from the machines they create.
All eight episodes of Blade Runner 2099 are scheduled to premiere globally on Prime Video on November 25, 2026.
What Does the New Blade Runner 2099 Trailer Reveal?
The new trailer puts Hunter Schafer’s Cora and Michelle Yeoh’s Olwen at the center of the story.
Cora is a fugitive who has spent her life running. In a final attempt to stop living that way, she assumes a dangerous new identity: a Blade Runner.
Her situation becomes even more complicated when she is forced to work alongside Olwen, a Replicant who is approaching the end of her life.
Their mission involves hunting a runaway who possesses information powerful enough to destabilize the fragile society around them.
That setup immediately creates an interesting conflict.
The Blade Runner franchise has traditionally explored the complicated relationship between humans and Replicants, artificial beings who can look and behave remarkably like humans. Rather than presenting that conflict as a simple battle between good and evil, the stories repeatedly question identity, memory, mortality and whether being artificially created makes a life less meaningful.
Blade Runner 2099 appears ready to continue exploring those ideas through a new pair of characters.
Hunter Schafer Steps Into a Major Action Role
Hunter Schafer plays Cora, placing the Euphoria and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes star at the center of one of science fiction’s most recognizable franchises.
The role also represents a physically demanding change for Schafer.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly ahead of the series, Schafer discussed the extensive physical preparation involved in playing Cora, including running, stunt work and demanding action sequences.
Michelle Yeoh, who has decades of experience performing action roles, also praised her co-star’s physical performance.
For Schafer, Blade Runner 2099 therefore offers an opportunity to move further into large-scale science-fiction and action storytelling while playing a character carrying much of the series’ central mystery.
Michelle Yeoh Plays Olwen
Michelle Yeoh stars as Olwen, a Replicant Blade Runner whose remaining time is limited.
That detail could become one of the show’s most important emotional elements.
Mortality has always played an important role in Blade Runner. Replicants may possess extraordinary abilities, but their existence has often been controlled by humans through artificial restrictions.
Olwen’s approaching death creates an immediate personal reason for her actions while potentially raising familiar Blade Runner questions about whether artificial life should be allowed to determine its own future.
Yeoh is particularly well suited to a role combining action and emotional complexity.
Her career includes projects ranging from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Everything Everywhere All at Once to major franchise appearances in Star Trek and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Her pairing with Schafer also gives the new series two performers from very different generations and screen backgrounds.
Blade Runner 2099 Takes Place 50 Years After Blade Runner 2049
The title tells audiences exactly how far the franchise has moved into the future.
Blade Runner 2099 takes place approximately 50 years after Blade Runner 2049, which starred Ryan Gosling as K alongside Harrison Ford returning as Rick Deckard.
The new series is set in a reborn Los Angeles.
But this is not simply the same city with newer technology.
The official description suggests that Los Angeles has changed dramatically during the decades separating the stories, creating a new social structure for Cora and Olwen to navigate.
Moving the story forward by half a century gives the creators considerable freedom.
Instead of having to immediately continue the personal stories of Deckard or K, the series can explore how the world itself evolved after the events audiences previously witnessed.
It also allows Blade Runner 2099 to introduce new characters while remaining connected to the larger mythology of the franchise.
Will Harrison Ford or Ryan Gosling Appear?
At the moment, neither Harrison Ford nor Ryan Gosling has been announced as part of the confirmed cast of Blade Runner 2099.
That means fans should be careful about treating online speculation about returning characters as confirmed information.
The currently announced story focuses on Cora and Olwen rather than Deckard or K.
A surprise connection is always possible in a franchise with such a long history, but Prime Video has not confirmed one.
For now, Blade Runner 2099 should be viewed as a new chapter in the same universe rather than a direct continuation built around the previous films’ leading characters.
Who Else Is in the Blade Runner 2099 Cast?
Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer lead the series, while Dimitri Abold and Lewis Gribben are also series regulars.
The recurring guest cast includes Katelyn Rose Downey, Daniel Rigby, Johnny Harris, Amy Lennox, Sheila Atim, Matthew Needham, Tom Burke and Maurizio Lombardi.
That gives the series a sizeable ensemble beyond its two leading stars.
Exactly how each character connects to the central mystery has not been completely revealed, leaving Prime Video plenty to keep secret before the November premiere.
Ridley Scott Remains Connected to the Franchise
Another important connection to the original films comes behind the camera.
Ridley Scott, who directed the original 1982 Blade Runner, serves as an executive producer on Blade Runner 2099.
Silka Luisa serves as creator, showrunner and executive producer.
Jonathan van Tulleken directed the first two episodes and also serves as an executive producer.
The production also includes several other executive producers connected to Alcon Entertainment and Scott Free Productions.
Scott’s involvement does not mean the series will simply recreate his original movie. However, having one of the key creative figures behind the franchise involved provides an important link between the new production and the world that began on screen more than four decades ago.
How Blade Runner Became a Science-Fiction Landmark
The Blade Runner franchise has unusual roots.
Its cinematic world was inspired by Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner arrived in 1982 with Harrison Ford starring as Rick Deckard.
Although its reputation developed significantly over time, the movie ultimately became enormously influential in science fiction, particularly through its depiction of futuristic cities, artificial humans and the uneasy relationship between technological progress and human identity.
Denis Villeneuve continued the story with Blade Runner 2049 in 2017.
Ryan Gosling starred as K, while Harrison Ford returned as Deckard.
Now Blade Runner 2099 is preparing to move that timeline forward another five decades.
Why Blade Runner 2099 Could Stand Apart
The biggest opportunity for Blade Runner 2099 may come from its format.
Unlike the previous major live-action installments, this story is being told as an eight-episode limited series.
That gives its creators considerably more time to develop the world, characters and central mystery than a traditional feature film would allow.
The series can potentially explore how Los Angeles changed over 50 years while gradually revealing what Cora and Olwen are actually confronting.
At the same time, the longer format creates expectations.
The show will need more than impressive futuristic visuals. Its central mystery and characters must be strong enough to sustain eight episodes while remaining accessible to viewers who may not remember every detail of the earlier films.
The newly released trailer suggests Prime Video is leaning heavily into both the visual identity and philosophical themes associated with Blade Runner.
Whether the series can successfully build upon that legacy will become clearer once audiences see the complete story.
When Does Blade Runner 2099 Premiere?
Fans do not have long to wait.
All eight episodes of Blade Runner 2099 premiere on Prime Video on November 25, 2026.
Unlike shows that release episodes weekly, the entire limited series is currently scheduled to arrive together.
The November launch will finally reveal how Cora and Olwen fit into the wider Blade Runner universe — and whether the franchise can successfully begin a major new chapter almost half a century after the original film reached theaters.
For now, the New York Comic Con trailer has given fans their strongest preview yet of what that future looks like.
Sources
Variety — Blade Runner 2099 Trailer Revealed at New York Comic Con
Deadline — Blade Runner 2099 Trailer: Hunter Schafer Teams Up With Michelle Yeoh
Amazon — Blade Runner 2099 Cast, Plot and Prime Video Release Date
Entertainment Weekly — Hunter Schafer on Becoming an Action Star for Blade Runner 2099
