Adult Swim and Crunchyroll have unveiled fresh details for Blade Runner: Black Lotus, the new anime inspired by the Blade Runner film franchise.
Due out later this year, Black Lotus will appear on Adult Swim in English and on Crunchyroll in Japanese with subtitles. The 13-episode season is co-directed by Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama, with Cowboy Bebop auteur Shinichiro Watanabe servicing as creative producer.
The plot seems to follow Elle, who according to a press release is a “female replicant created for a secret and unknown purpose.” Elle will be voiced in English by Jessica Henwick, a rising 28-year-old British-Chinese actress who recently starred in Underwater and will soon be appearing in The Matrix 4 and Knives Out 2.
Related Video
She’ll be joined behind the mics by the great Brian Cox (Succession), who will play Niander Wallace Sr., founder and CEO of the Wallace Corporation, as well as Wes Bentley as the scientist Niander Wallace Jr. The presence of the Wallace Corporation — and a junior Niander Wallace — suggests a timeline several decades after Blade Runner 2049, in which Jared Leto played Cox’s part.
Besides that, Black Lotus will feature a mysterious figure who owns a spare parts junkyard (Will Yun Lee), a rookie LAPD recruit (Samira Wiley), a deadly Blade Runner named Marlowe (Josh Duhamel), the LAPD Chief of Police (Stephen Root) and his wife (Peyton List), a blak market dealer (Barkhad Abdi), a Senator with “strong feelings on replicant production,” (Gregg Henry), a brilliant doctor (Henry Czerny), and a journalist loyal to the Wallace Corporation (Jason Spisak).
The creative team will offer a first look at the new series at this year’s Comic Con in San Diego. On Friday, July 23rd, star Henwick and co-directors Aramaki and Kamiyama will participate in a panel and share a teaser or trailer. Stay tuned for more details.
