Blade Runner 2099: connected to the films but a standalone "rebirth" on Prime Video

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Blade Runner 2099 didn't just get a first trailer and a release date at San Diego Comic-Con 2026 , the showrunner also gave us an interesting tease about where it stands in relation to the rest of the franchise.

"2019 was dark and rainy. 2049 was snowy and cold," showrunner Silka Luisa said at the panel, attended by GamesRadar+. "Our show is a rebirth. It's the rebirth of a city, it's a rebirth of all of our characters, and so to me that felt like it should be hot and sticky and chaotic, and that's where we got the idea for the 'sunshine noir,' and so you're you're seeing Blade Runner, Ridley's Blade Runner, but through the lens of hard sunlight and deep shadow where you still have neons, and hopefully that feels like it's both familiar but completely different."

The new Prime Video takes place 50 years after Blade Runner 2049 where a war has happened "and the humans have lost". The official synopsis reads, "Our worst fears imagined. The replicants are now the power brokers of the city. And humans are the second-class citizens."

Producer Andrew Kosove also promised that you can come in fresh to this series, without needing to have seen what's come before. "They will see connective tissue and character and storylines that relate to the first two movies," he added. "At the same time, this was designed in a way such that if you're not deeply ingrained in the first two pictures, you can pick this up very easily and connect to it. It's not. This is not meant to be inside baseball. This is indeed meant to bring in a whole new generation of fans."

Michelle Yeoh, Hunter Schafer, Tom Burke, and Dimitri Abold, who were all at the panel. The official synopsis reads, "And between 2049 and 2099, that's happened. So the war has happened and the humans have lost. Our worst fears imagined. The replicants are now the power brokers of the city. And humans are the second-class citizens."

Blade Runner 2099 comes out on November 25, 2026.

To make sure you don't miss anything else from SDCC, read our SDCC schedule 2026 and our San Diego Comic-Con 2026 live coverage .