Thought the Blade Runner timeline was as simple as two movies and an anime TV series? Think again! The world that started in Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and was adapted to the screen by Ridley Scott in 1982's Blade Runner, has expanded to include a whole lot more than just that. For starters, there are comics, games, live-action shorts, and the upcoming Amazon series Blade Runner 2099. Then there are non-canon books, VR adventures, and even a tabletop role-playing game.
Before we unspool the Blade Runner timeline below, it’s worth noting a few things. First, we will focus primarily on the franchise's on-screen outings, along with the major comic-book stories released by Titan Comics and Alcon Publishing (Alcon Entertainment being the franchise's proprietors).
We've decided to leave out the Alcon-licensed video game from 1997 (it has multiple endings; characters can be both human and replicants), two of the minor VR games, as well as the tabletop game and original book sequels – written by K.W. Jeter and released in the '90s and '00s, as these no longer fit with modern canon. They are moments lost in time. Like tears in the rain…
Blade Runner Timeline: Release Date Order
- Blade Runner (Film) – 1982
- 2036: Nexus Dawn (Live-Action Short) – 2017
- 2048: Nowhere to Run (Live-Action Short) – 2017
- Blade Runner Black Out 2022 (Anime Short) – 2017
- Blade Runner 2049 (Film) – 2017
- Blade Runner: Revelations (Daydream VR Game) – 2018
- Blade Runner 2019 (Comic) – 2019-20
- Blade Runner 2029 (Comic) – 2020-22
- Blade Runner Origins (Comic) – 2021-22
- Blade Runner: Black Lotus (Anime Series) – 2021-22
- Blade Runner 2039 (Comic) – 2022-24
- Blade Runner: Black Lotus: Leaving L.A. & Las Vegas (Comic) – 2022-26
- Blade Runner: Tokyo Nexus (Comic) – 2024-ongoing
- Blade Runner 2099 (TV Show) – 2026
Blade Runner Timeline: Chronological Order
2009 – Blade Runner Origins (Comic)
Release date: 2021-22
As the title implies, Blade Runner: Origins tells the story of the very first Blade Runner, AKA the guys who hunt down rogue replicants – replicants being bioengineered humans, indistinguishable from normal people except they can be extremely strong and intelligent.
Cal Moreaux is an LAPD detective tasked with investigating the apparent suicide of Lydia Kine, a scientist working for the Tyrell Corporation, the company best known for selling the enhanced humanoid slaves known as replicants.
Across Origins' 12-issue run, Cal becomes caught up in an emerging replicant uprising and discovers an unsettling link between his investigation and his own sister, Nia. It's a surprising, twisty story that ultimately leads to the formation of the Blade Runner division, with Cal as its first member. Cal also later appears in Blade Runner 2039.
2015 – Blade Runner: Tokyo Nexus (Comic)
Release date: 2024-ongoing
The first Blade Runner story set in Asia, Tokyo Nexus focuses primarily on the human Mead and her best friend, the replicant Stix, two survivors of a doomed off-world military mission. Back on Earth and now working as unlicensed private detectives, they juggle a missing persons case with searching for the person who betrayed their squad. Their investigation soon sees the duo embroiled in a patent war between multiple Yakuza clans, the Tyrell Corporation, and Cheshire, a company developing bootleg replicants.
Two volumes of Tokyo Nexus have been released so far – Die in Peace and To Lose is to Win – with a third, Die With Honor, starting November 4, 2026.
2019 – Blade Runner (Film)
Release date: 1982
One of the greatest science fiction movies of all time, Ridley Scott's movie set the tone for everything that followed in the Blade Runner universe. It centers on Rick Deckard (famously played by Harrison Ford), a Blade Runner tasked with hunting down four advanced replicants, led by Roy Batty, who have illegally returned to Earth hoping to extend their deliberately short four-year lifespans by forcing Eldon Tyrell – founder of the pesky Tyrell Corporation – to help them.
During the investigation, Deckard's replicant-hunting skills are tested by Tyrell, who makes Deckard do a Voight-Kampff empathy test on Rachael, a replicant who believes she's human. But, twist! They end up falling in love. Meanwhile, Batty eventually gets to Tyrell, who cannot help Batty, leading to the replicant crushing Tyrell's head. With his life reaching its inevitable end, Batty delivers the famous "tears in the rain" monologue.
For anyone revisiting this classic, make sure to watch the Final Cut, as its ending is Scott's preferred one and leaves us with the eternal question: is Deckard actually a replicant?
Bonus! The 1997 point-and-click adventure, also titled Blade Runner, takes place concurrently with the movie and tells the story of Ray McCoy, an officer charged with hunting down a group of replicants who murder animals. This is a huge crime, as nearly all animals are extinct in the world of Blade Runner.
McCoy interacts with a couple of characters from the movie, including cameos from Sean Young's Rachael and Joe Turkel's Dr. Eldon Tyrell, voiced by the original cast. Deckard also makes an appearance, though he's seen and not heard. There are 13 different endings, depending on actions in the game, with McCoy potentially being either a replicant or human.
2019 – Blade Runner 2019 (Comic)
Release date: 2019-20
Blade Runner 2019 is the first instalment in a trilogy of comics focusing on Aahna 'Ash' Ashina, the first female Blade Runner. She's hired by wealthy industrialist Alexander Selwyn to find his missing wife, Isobel, and young daughter, Cleo, with the investigation eventually taking Ash from the streets of Los Angeles to the off-world colonies.
Things become complicated when Ash discovers Isobel is actually a replicant copy of Cleo's mother. The case forces Ash to question her attitude towards replicants, beginning a story that continues ten years later in Blade Runner 2029 and concludes with Blade Runner 2039.
2022 – Blade Runner Black Out 2022 (Anime Short)
Release date: 2017
Released shortly before Blade Runner 2049 as a way to tee up the long-awaited sequel, Black Out 2022 is a 15-minute anime directed by Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichirō Watanabe. Replicants no longer have four-year lifespans, which, in turn, leads to growing anti-replicant sentiment and the creation of a database identifying every replicant on Earth.
Two replicants, Iggy Cygnus and Trixie, along with human sympathiser Ren Dus, decide to destroy that database by detonating a nuclear warhead above Los Angeles, creating an electromagnetic pulse capable of wiping out all electronic records across the West Coast. Their plan succeeds (though Trixie dies), and the resulting blackout becomes one of the defining events in Blade Runner history: replicant production becomes prohibited, huge amounts of data are lost, and the Tyrell Corporation collapses, its assets eventually bought by the Wallace Corporation, who we'll be hearing a lot more from…
2023 – Blade Runner: Revelations (Daydream VR Game)
Release date: 2018
There are, in fact, three VR games set in the Blade Runner universe, but the other two are relatively inconsequential tie-ins to Blade Runner 2049; Revelations is a little more substantial. It follows Harper, a veteran Blade Runner investigating the increasingly violent conflict between humans and replicants. The Replicant Underground – a group fighting for replicant rights – has gone on the offensive, while Blade Runners have been ordered to hunt down its members and allies. This is also when the new law is proposed, banning the manufacture of replicants altogether.
Harper's investigation leads him to Night Owl, a secret viral pathogen developed by Eldon Tyrell, designed as a failsafe that could wipe out all replicants, should they take over. The story branches depending on the player's decisions, eventually allowing Harper to either side with the authorities or help the Replicant Underground. Even with multiple endings, though, the VR game explores a lot of seriously important lore – it wouldn't be a surprise if the replicant-killing Night Owl reappeared at some point in the future.
2029 – Blade Runner 2029 (Comic)
Release date: 2020-22
The second part of Ash's trilogy finds the Blade Runner no longer exclusively hunting replicants but secretly helping them escape captivity, too. Things get complicated when Ash encounters Yotun, an older replicant version who survived far beyond his intended four-year lifespan by taking blood transfusions from other replicants. He seeks to extend his life further by discovering the secret to longer life that he – like Roy Batty – believes Eldon Tyrell was hiding. Yotun is also gathering other replicants around him and launches an uprising against their human oppressors.
Eventually, Ash's double life as Blade Runner and replicant-sympathiser is discovered, while Yotun learns that Tyrell’s supposed secret is not the answer to immortality he hoped for. The story also features Freysa, Ash's replicant lover and leader of the Replicant Underground, a group demanding replicants get equal rights. An older Freysa, who has one eye, is played by Hiam Abbass in Blade Runner 2049.
2032 – Blade Runner: Black Lotus (Anime Series)
Release date: 2021–22
This Crunchyroll/Adult Swim collaboration follows Elle, an amnesiac woman with deadly fighting skills, a black lotus tattoo, and a desire to remember who she was. She soon discovers that she's actually a replicant previously hunted for sport by humans, and sets out to get revenge on those who wronged her.
Elle finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy involving the Wallace Corporation, the replicant-creating successor to the Tyrell Corporation. Turns out, she was actually created by Niander Wallace Jr. (later played by Jared Leto on screen) to assassinate his father, Niander Wallace Sr., after plans are put in motion to sell the company's replicant-making facilities, as these have become redundant following the replicant production ban. Wallace Jr. can't let that happen; he wants to create a new generation of replicants that can one day replace humanity. Elle eventually kills Wallace Sr., and later blinds Wallace Jr.
2032 – Blade Runner: Black Lotus: Leaving L.A. & Las Vegas (Comic)
Release dates: 2022-26
Elle's story continues in two comic-book sequels to Black Lotus. Leaving L.A. picks up immediately after the anime, with Elle fleeing Los Angeles on a homemade Spinner-bike as she's still wanted for murder by the LAPD. Her journey takes her to a remote industrial community, where she becomes caught up in a conflict between rival factions.
Las Vegas continues Elle's story as she travels to the irradiated ruins of Sin City, which was abandoned following the detonation of a dirty bomb. There, she discovers communities of former casino replicants who have created their own strange society based around ancient Egyptian and Roman royalty. Unfortunately for Elle, Niander Wallace Jr. is out for revenge and sends a squad of mercenaries after her. Elle ultimately escapes and ventures beneath Las Vegas, where she discovers an underground community of replicants who welcome her into their ranks.
Bonus! The game Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth was set one year after the events of Black Lotus, and would have dealt with the fallout of the blackout. Annapurna Interactive was developing the game, and a trailer was released in 2023. However, it has been canceled.
2036 – 2036: Nexus Dawn (Live-Action Short)
Release date: 2017
For a six-minute short (directed by Luke Scott, son of Ridley), 2036: Nexus Dawn packs a lot in. A blinded Niander Wallace Jr. (Jared Leto) attempts to overturn the prohibition on replicant production. Appearing before a group of lawmakers, Wallace argues that humanity needs replicant labour to survive and expand beyond Earth, and introduces his latest creation: the next evolution of the replicant, designed to obey humans completely. Wallace demonstrates this by ordering one to choose between Wallace's life and its own; the replicant cuts its own throat. The demonstration helps pave the way for the return of legal replicant production.
Bonus! Blade Runner: The Roleplaying Game, the tabletop game, takes place in 2037 and begins shortly after Wallace's new replicant models have gone public, giving players the choice of being either human or replicant Blade Runners. There are a few story-based case files, which center mainly around the Wallace Corporation's replicant-making antics.
2039 – Blade Runner 2039 (Comic)
Release date: 2022-24
The final part of Ash's trilogy. Cleo Selwyn returns to Los Angeles in search of the replicant copy of her dead mother, Isobel. Cleo turns to an ageing Ash for help, but their search puts them in the sights of Niander Wallace, who believes Cleo's family may hold the key to replicant fertility.
Wallace sends the advanced replicant Luv (later played by Sylvia Hoeks in Blade Runner 2049) after Cleo. Ash eventually gets her hands on the research conducted by Cleo’s father, Alexander Selwyn, into replicant reproduction and makes a deal with Wallace: he gets the research if he leaves Cleo and Isobel alone. He agrees: Cleo and Isobel escape off-world, while a terminally ill Ash decides to spend the rest of her days with her partner, Freysa.
2048 – 2048: Nowhere to Run (Live-Action Short)
Release date: 2017
The second live-action prequel short to Blade Runner 2049, again directed by Luke Scott, Nowhere to Run focuses on Sapper Morton, played by Dave Bautista. He makes a living selling the leeches he farms and befriends a young girl named Ella while on a trip to town.
Things go wrong when Sapper saves Ella and her mother from a group of thugs, brutally killing several of them and, in the process, revealing his superhuman strength – and that he's a replicant. As he leaves, Sapper accidentally drops papers containing his address. These are reported to the LAPD, directly setting up Blade Runner 2049's opening sequence.
2049 – Blade Runner 2049 (Film)
Release date: 2017
The long-awaited sequel. Denis Villeneuve's modern masterpiece follows K (Ryan Gosling), an advanced replicant, working as a Blade Runner, hunting down older, non-obedient replicants. While retiring Bautista's Sapper, K discovers the remains of a female replicant who died giving birth – something previously thought impossible. That replicant turns out to be Rachael, who had a child with Rick Deckard after the events of the original movie.
K is ordered to find and kill the child, yet Niander Wallace Jr. wants the child for very different reasons; his replicant creations are still unable to reproduce, and he believes discovering how Rachael became pregnant could allow him to manufacture replicants on the scale needed to expand humanity throughout the stars.
The investigation leads K to Harrison Ford's ageing Deckard, who has spent decades in hiding. Eventually, Deckard's child is found: Dr. Ana Stelline, a memory designer whose own childhood memories were implanted into K. After killing Wallace's replicant enforcer Luv, a mortally wounded K reunites Deckard with his daughter.
2099 – Blade Runner 2099 (TV Show)
Release date: November 25, 2026
Amazon's upcoming limited series takes us 50 years into the future – a period so far completely unexplored. In those intervening years, replicants have usurped humans after some sort of war, the story picking up with Hunter Schafer's Cora, a human pretending to be a replicant. She teams up with Michelle Yeoh's Olwen, a replicant Blade Runner coming to the end of her life, to hunt down a group of rogue replicants.
That's about all we know about the series, created by Silka Luisa, the showrunner behind Apple's Shining Girls. All eight episodes are releasing in one batch, so expect the Blade Runner timeline to be rocked come November.
Find out more about Blade Runner 2099 during the New York Comic Con panel on Saturday, October 10 at 6:45pm ET (3.45pm PT and 11:45pm BST).
We've also got a guide to all the upcoming TV shows you need to know about.
