Denis Villeneuve And Harrison Ford Address The Mysteries Of 'Blade Runner 2049'

While the ham-fisted theatrical cut of Blade Runner felt the need to tie everything up with a neat little bow, the infinitely superior director's cut and the even better "final cut" conclude on a more ambiguous note. Was Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard, a robot-hunting "blade runner" for the LAPD, a Replicant himself the whole time? Everyone has an opinion and the debate has raged on for years amongst fans and the people who actually made the film.

And with the sequel arriving next year, there are plenty of Blade Runner 2049 mysteries ahead of us, and it's good to know that those closest to the productionseem compelled to keep one of the big unanswered questions from the original movie intact.

My chief concern with a sequel to Blade Runner was always that it would attempt to provide a definitive answer to this question rather than let one of science fiction cinema's most delicious mysteries be. While I'm firmly on the side of star Harrison Ford and screenwriter Hampton Fancher (who also co-wrote Blade Runner 2049) in thinking that Deckard was human, I love that original director Ridley Scott disagrees. Blade Runner is so open to interpretation that the people closest to it have different interpretations! There's something truly delightful about that.

Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve has said that his movie will deliberately not provide an answer to this mystery, which is all I need to hear to feel okay about my excitement for his film. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, he revealed that the debate continues to rage on amongst those closest to Blade Runner, describing a dinner where Ford and Scott (who is still on board as a producer) fought over Deckard's identity:

It was very funny, I must say, to find myself in the literal crossfire of Harrison and Ridley, arguing as to why Deckard should be a replicant and why he should be human. As a fan, that's a dinner I will remember for all my life.

While Ford has always been in the "Deckard is human" camp, he played mum on the subject, saying that you'll have to see the finished movie to learn more:

I'm happy to censor myself on this one. I can tell you that it was a question that was of interest to me when we made the first film, and I'm not sure I ever got a straight answer from the people I was working with at that point. I think the answer to your question is worth the price of admission.

Okay, sure thing. I think we can manage that. Blade Runner 2049 opens on October 6, 2017.