Michelle Yeoh is the new face of Amazon's Blade Runner (and yes, she's a replicant too)

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The Blade Runner series has had the fortune of nabbing some of the biggest stars for its leading roles. The original had Harrison Ford, fresh off playing Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, while Blade Runner 2049 had both Ryan Gosling and Ford to carry the movie. Now, Amazon’s upcoming Blade Runner series has announced that Michelle Yeoh will be their star – and we couldn’t be happier to hear it.

Yeoh’s casting is possibly the only move that makes sense, really. She is in the middle of a career resurgence in the West thanks to her Oscar-winning performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once, and is headlining n upcoming Star Trek project spinning out from Discovery, but she has already been one of the most celebrated action stars in the world for decades now. She’s starred in action films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Tomorrow Never Dies, while flexing her dramatic skills in movies like Memoirs of a Geisha. There are few actors in the world who could reasonably step into Harrison Ford’s shadow and not be overwhelmed by the burden, and Michelle Yeoh is the best choice.

The plot of Amazon’s Blade Runner series, which is being called Blade Runner 2099 and serves as a sequel to both Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049, is tightly under wraps. Michelle Yeoh’s character is reported to be Olwen, “a replicant near the end of her life.”

Blade Runner 2099 is due to come out on Amazon Prime Video, though we still don’t have any idea when the release date will be at this early stage.

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