Producer Denies Harrison Ford's Connection to New BLADE RUNNER Film

Last week a rumor sprouted up online stating that the veteran actor may reprise his role in the upcoming continuation of the 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and also starring Rutger Hauer, Darryl Hannah and Sean Young; but now one of the film's producers says that is not likely.

Released by Warner Bros almost 30 years ago, Blade Runner was adapted by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples from Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and directed by Ridley Scott following his landmark induction into the sci-fi genre with Alien. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards in Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction categories. The film, which starred Harrison Ford stars as Rick Deckard, a retired cop in Los Angeles circa 2019, was a financial and critical failure upon it's release but has since gained increasing cult popularity. In 1992, director Scott released a Director's Cut that removed narration provided by Ford, added a dream sequence and removed a happy ending imposed by the results of test screenings.

Ridley Scott, just off his Alien franchise addition Prometheus, has planned to continue the Blade Runner story, though not official details about it's premise have become available. Last week, a rumor began circulating that Ford may be back to the next installation; but today, producer Andrew Kosove has released a statement reiterating his earlier notation that it is highly unlikely Ford would play a part in the new film:

"It is absolutely patently false that there has been any discussion about Harrison Ford being in Blade Runner. To be clear, what we are trying to do with ridley now is go through the painstaking process of trying to break the back of the story, figure out the direction we’re going to take the movie and find a writer to work on it. The casting of the movie could not be further from our minds at this moment.

"It’s like asking if we’re going to make the sky red or blue, there has been no discussion about it. What Ridley does in Prometheus is a good template for what we’re trying to do. He created something that has some association to the original Alien, but lives on its own as a standalone movie."

Those words carry a pretty definitive tone, but when Kosove asked directly if Ford would absolutely not be included in the planned story continuation, he left his options open: "In advance of knowing what we’re going to do, I supposed you could say yes, he could. But I think it is quite unlikely."