Short film fills in the gap between 'Blade Runner' and 2017 sequel (video)

 August 30, 2017 - 13:08 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Before the release of "Blade Runner 2049", a short film is released to let fans catch up with a major event that takes place before the upcoming movie. Titled "Nexus: 2036", the short directed by Luke Scott and posted over at Collider fills in the gap between the original film that was released in 1982 and the sequel starring Ryan Gosling, AceShowbiz says.

According to a Comic-Con teaser video and the movie's website, in 2022 the United States was crippled by a rolling blackout when a massive EMP detonated on the West Coast and replicants were blamed for it. Thus, the government legislated an indefinite prohibition on replicant production in 2023.

The year 2036 was when the prohibition era was lifted. In the short film set in that year, Jared Leto's Niander Wallace meets the authorities, one of them played by "Doctor Strange" actor Benedict Wong, to introduce a new line of "perfected" replicants called the Nexus 9 in the hopes of repealing robot prohibition.

Niander demonstrates how the replicant complies with his order, including hurting his face with a piece of broken glass and then stabbing himself to death. The authorities seem to be shocked by the gruesome act, but apparently the stunt will convince them to lift the prohibition since there will be a lot of new replicants in "Blade Runner 2049".

Set thirty years after the events of the first film, "Blade Runner 2049" follows a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Gosling), who unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

Dave Bautista, Mackenzie Davis, Sylvia Hoeks, Ana de Armas, David Benson and Barkhad Abdi also star in the film which is directed by Denis Villeneuve. It is due out October 6 in the United States.