Blade Runner 2: First gloomy image released for long-awaited sequel

The follow-up to Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic will arrive October 2017

From the trailer of Blade Runner 2049 starring Ryan Gosling

In 2017, a sequel to Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic Blade Runner will arrive in cinemas, 35 years after the original was released.

While recent concept art provided a look at the state of the film's dystopian Los Angeles-setting, a first look image from the follow-up has been released - and it looks like it could have been stripped direct from the 1982 original.

It's a safe bet to assume that the person seen in the image is the film's lead character played by Ryan Gosling. Or could director Denis Villeneuve (Sicario) be teasing the return of Harrison Ford's character Rick Deckard who is set to return in an unknown capacity?

The Canadian filmmaker has described the film as "...an extension of the first movie a few decades later.”

Joining Gosling and Ford will be Robin Wright (House of Cards), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Barkhad Abdi who impressed critics with his performance in 2013 Paul Greengrass thriller Captain Phillips.

Originally slated for a January 2018 release, the sequel was recently moved up to 6 October 2017.