With ‘Blade Runner: Black Lotus’ premiering on CrunchyRoll and on Adult Swim this month, many may be wondering when the anime series takes place in the ‘Blade Runner’ timeline. The series was announced in November 2018 as a co-production between the aforementioned distributors. It's is a spin-off of the ‘Blade Runner’ franchise made famous with 1982's titular sci-fi classic starring Harrison Ford and its sequel, ‘Blade Runner 2049’, which starred Ryan Gosling alongside Ford.
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This newest addition to the Blade Runner canon will be the first TV series to take place in the iconic sci-fi world, as well as the second animation after the animated short films that debuted in 2017 around the release of Blade Runner 2049. The anime series is to be 13 episodes and will follow a newly established replicant character named Elle, who was created for a mysterious purpose. Along with introducing Elle, the series will also feature some familiar characters from the Blade Runner universe.
‘Blade Runner: Black Lotus’ takes place in the year 2032, between the films ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Blade Runner 2049’, but ten years after the animated short ‘Black Out’, which takes place in 2022, three years after the original film, which was set in the year 2019. The Blackout was a major event between the two films and was a widespread electricity blackout that lasted for ten days. The blackout was a planned attack by two replicants and a replicant-sympathizing accomplice in order to erase all data on replicants. Their plan was ultimately a success and would change the face of the dystopian world. Replicant production was soon banned and resulted in the fall of the Tyrell Corporation. After the Blackout, all illegal ‘Blade Runner’ replicants went into hiding. Ten years later, the Wallace Corporation rose from the ashes of Tyrell and started production on a new model of replicant. This is where the new anime series will pick up in the timeline.
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