Blade Runner 2049: First trailer shows Deckard alive

First footage of Dennis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 has been released, offering fans a tantalising glimpse of what they can expect.

The long-awaited follow-up to Ridley Scott's 1982 cyberpunk classic once again sees Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, this time alongside Ryan Gosling and co-stars Robin Wright, Dave Bautista, Mackenzie Davis and Jared Leto.        

Set 30 years after the events in Blade Runner, the new film sees LAPD Officer K (Gosling), uncover a long-buried secret that could destroy the fabric of his world, prompting him to track down Deckard, who disappeared 30 years ago.

Warner Bros' "announcement trailer" shows a yellowish desert-like landscape where K discovers a creepy abandoned building, in which he meets a gun-toting Deckard.

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The original Blade Runner implied that Deckard, although he believed he was human, was an android, which are known as replicants in the film. While the standard robots had very short lifespans, he might be one of the new, more sophisticated models that could live longer.

Former director Scott takes on a producer role for 2049, handing on the reins to Villeneuve, who is known for thoughtful, immersive films such as Sicario and Arrival, so fans can expect a richly realised world to match the neo-drenched Los Angeles of the original, along with some visceral action sequences.

Blade Runner was based on the science-fiction novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by US writer Philip K Dick, which explores the issue of what it is to be human.

The sequel has been a long time coming. Discussions first began in 1999, when British director Stuart Hazeldine wrote a script based on by KW Jeter's novel The Edge of Human, continuing the narrative from both Blade Runner and Dick's original novel.

This project was shelved due to rights issues, but Scott began developing a sequel, although it wasn't confirmed until 2012.

Asked then whether Ford would be in it, Scott replied. "Is he too old? Well, he was a Nexus-6 so we don't know how long he can live."

Blade Runner 2049 is due to be released in October 2017.