Will Jared Leto Play a Replicant in Blade Runner Sequel?

The highly anticipated sequel to the 1982 sci-fi thriller Blade Runner has added Jared Leto (Suicide Squad) to an already star-studded cast, which includes Harrison Ford (again), Ryan Gosling, and Robin Wright.

The as yet unnamed part 2, which has been filming in Budapest, is due to hit theatres on October 6, 2017, and Warner Bros. appears to be taking precautions for this installment to live up to the original’s splendor. For example, Ridley Scott, who directed the original, will be an executive producer; Scott was slated to direct the sequel, but changed his mind back in 2014. Hampton Fancher, who co-wrote the original, will be a co-writer again, along with Green Lantern co-writer Michael Green. And, of course, Harrison Ford will be back to reprise an older version of Rick Deckard.

The sequel’s plot will likely remain ambiguous till the release date, but according to the sequel’s current director, Denis Villeneuve (Sicario), the mystery surrounding whether or not Deckard was a human or a replicant will be addressed. As for actual screen time, Scott told “Variety” that Ford’s character would only appear in the third act.

Ryan Gosling is about as versatile as they come, but it’s not hard to imagine him potentially playing Deckard’s “replacement.” After all, if we do the math, this movie will be set in, or around, the year 2050, and a 75-year-old Deckard, even taking futuristic advancements into consideration, will probably be retired. Incidentally, the original was set in the year 2019 – inserting a date for movies set in the future will inevitably disappoint when the audience realizes we’re not going to both invent and regret the Nexus-6 renegades in the next 3 years.

In regards to law enforcement, Deckard was a bit of a loner in the original, with the exception of an occasional visit from fellow officer Gaff, played by Edward James Olmos. Dave Bautista (WWE fame and Guardians of the Galaxy), another addition to the film, posted a picture of himself with an origami unicorn a few months ago (hint, hint).

Jared Leto, however, might be personally primed to bring something more to the table in hopes of accomplishing what Rutger Hauer achieved as the antagonist replicant Roy Batty. Apparently Leto was “disappointed” in what he saw on the screen in regards to his role as The Joker in the recently released Suicide Squad.

It’s hard to imagine the producers of the currently untitled Blade Runner sequel utilizing Leto in any other way than as a swarthy AI cyborg, or, even better, one created on the black market with 35 years of upgrades. But, at this point, one can only hope that the — now — 17 years (!) of development behind this sequel will yield something more than just enhanced visual effects and a lesson in climate change.

Check out the original Blade Runner trailer, and some creepy videos with Leto as The Joker on the next page.

Here’s the original Blade Runner trailer.