'Blade Runner: 2049' Will Bring Edward James Olmos Back To The Future

Decades before he confirmed himself as a bonafide science fiction icon as Admiral Adama in the great Battlestar Galactica remake series, Edward James Olmos had a key role in Ridley Scott's 1982 masterpiece, Blade Runner. Now, we know that he's following in the footsteps of original star Harrison Ford and returning to the rainy, grimy streets of future Los Angeles in director Denis Villeneuve's upcoming sequel, Blade Runner 2049.

While appearing on The Trend Talk (via Bleeding Cool), Olmos confirmed that his Officer Gaff, the mysterious, well-dressed, origami-folding police officer who gets the final lines of dialogue in director's cut of the original film, is coming back. While this does fly against stories that he would not be returning, Olmos admitted that he was bound to total secrecy by paperwork:

I signed a seven page non-disclosure contract. I did, my manager did, my agent did, everybody did. I couldn't talk about it. I couldn't talk about it to anybody about it. Guess what? This is the first time that I'm telling the whole world, that yes, I am going to be Gaff in Blade Runner 2049.

While Harrison Ford (returning as robot-hunting cop Rick Deckard) has his name above the title alongside new star Ryan Gosling and is prominently featured in the film's first trailer, Olmos admits that his role in the film is little more than a cameo, with the older Officer Gaff appearing in a single scene:

Well it's not about Gaff, but it's about someone who is going to try to find out certain things about us back then. My role is like it was in the original – that time I only had four scenes, in this I only have one. But again, it's a poignant little scene.

The "someone" Olmos is referring to is surely Gosling's Officer K, whose quest to track down Deckard forms the still-mysterious core story of Blade Runner 2049. From the sound of things, Officer K will be visiting a few of Deckard's old associates while he's on the hunt, including that man who made the infamous origami unicorn and shouted "It's too bad she won't live, but then again, who does?" in the final moments of the original movie.

Fans have often suggested that Gaff knows more about the mysteries of Blade Runner then he's letting on and that his sometimes sinister appearance disguises the fact that he's one of the only people in the film being straight with Deckard. But how does he feel a few decades later? And is he willing to share more? And should he share?

Blade Runner 2049 opens on October 6, 2017. You can watch the full interview with Olmos below.