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Ridley Scott’s New Blade Runner Film Will Be Sequel
By Angela Watercutter May 18, 2012 | 3:29 pm

A month shy of Blade Runner’s 30th anniversary, word has come down that Ridley Scott will direct a sequel to the groundbreaking sci-fi film, with original screenwriter Hampton Fancher in talks to develop the screenplay.

News that Scott would helm a new Blade Runner movie came out a while back, but up until now it was unclear if the film would be a prequel, sequel or something else entirely. Beyond the clarity that the movie will indeed be a sequel, few details about its actual premise have been released.

“The filmmakers would reveal only that the new story will take place some years after the first film concluded,” production company Alcon Entertainment said in a statement announcing the sequel to the 1982 adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

However, as The Mary Sue points out, Scott noted recently that he’s looking to have a female lead in the film. Since Scott has already said Harrison Ford likely won’t be returning to reprise his role as “blade runner” Rick Deckard, having an amazing female lead holds the potential for true awesomeness.

“I started my first meetings on the Blade Runner sequel last week,” Scott told the Daily Beast in an interview posted Thursday. “We have a very good take on it. And we’ll definitely be featuring a female protagonist.”

The legendary director, whose highly anticipated Alien spinoff Prometheus opens next month, doesn’t elaborate on what kind of female protagonist his new Blade Runner film will feature — or whether she’ll be a replicant. But from Thelma & Louise to G.I. Jane, the director has earned a reputation for employing kick-ass female leads.

Sigourney Weaver’s Lt. Ripley from Alien is generally considered the action heroine by which all others are measured, and Prometheus boasts two female leads: Charlize Theron (who won an Oscar for Monster) and Noomi Rapace (the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo).

“[I] was pretty taken with this little punk in the lead who seemed to own the street,” Scott told the Daily Beast of Rapace’s performance in the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. “As a protagonist, she’s a very physical woman who’s almost as agile as an acrobat and keeps herself enormously fit. She’s also got a real brain in her head. No one’s going to be disappointed [by her performance in Prometheus]…. She sure does kick some ass in this movie — again and again.”

It’ll be a while before the new Blade Runner movie gets under way (Scott is currently in preproduction for his next film, The Counselor). But in the meantime, Rooney Mara — call your agent.