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There’s going to be a new short Blade Runner anime set in 2022

There’s going to be a new short Blade Runner anime set in 2022

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It’s being directed by Cowboy Bebop’s Shinichiro Watanabe

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In more Blade Runner news, Sony Pictures Japan has released a teaser clip of a new anime based on the film that will be directed by Cowboy Bebop director Shinichiro Watanabe. As spotted by Kotaku, the short is named Blade Runner Black Out 2022, and takes place three years after the original film.

The plot revolves around an electricity failure on the west coast of the US. According to the film’s official timeline, that failure leads to cities shutting down, financial and trade markets are thrown into chaos, and food supplies dwindle. There’s no proof as to what caused the blackouts, but Replicants — the bio-engineered robots featured in the original Blade Runner, are blamed.

The teaser video shows behind-the-scenes footage of artists and animators working on the film. It also details concept art for characters, costumes, and some action sequences. “The work that has influenced me the most in my anime profession would be, of course, Blade Runner,” Watanabe says in the video clip. Watanabe also notes that he wants to pay maximum respect to the original 1982 film, and is trying not to create an imitation, Kotaku reports.

It’s the latest short out of the Blade Runner universe to show more detail about the period between the first movie, set in 2019, and the upcoming Blade Runner 2049. Yesterday we were introduced to new character Sapper, played by Dave Bautista, and before that, to Blade Runner 2049’s likely villain Niander Wallace, helmed by a creepy, dystopian Jared Leto. Blade Runner 2049 is due out October 6th, 2017.

Update September 15, 9:45AM ET: Updated to add context about the film's plot.