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Blade Runner: Black Lotus NYCC panel reveals neon noir art, new trailer & release date

By James Comtois
black lotus hero

Fans who watched the vitrual Blade Runner: Black Lotus panel at New York Comic Con on Thursday not only learned the show's premiere date, but they were also treated to a new trailer and poster art for the series.

The Adult Swim series, which expands on the world of Blade Runner first introduced in Ridley Scott’s classic 1982 film and Denis Villeneuve’s 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049, will premiere on the network on Nov. 13 at midnight ET with two new back-to-back episodes.

Taking place about halfway between both its predecessors (after the blackout introduced in 2049), Black Lotus centers on a replicant named Elle (voiced by Jessica Henwick in the English dub and Arisa Shida for Japanese), who’s being hunted down, since, well, she’s a replicant.

Check out the new trailer and artwork below:

Blade Runner Black Lotus poster

Regardless of the timeline or the fact that it's an animated series, based on this trailer (and the one that premiered at this year’s Comic-Con@Home), the show sure does have that same rain-soaked neon noir look from both Blade Runner films. 

During the virtual panel, executive producer Joseph Chu noted that the original Blade Runner "impacted Japanese anime more than any other sci-fi film from Hollywood," and that this new series not only pays tribute to the original film but expands on the world presented within Scott's film.

Series co-director Kenji Kamiyama noted that this is a story about a replicant "trying to find her identity" and "looking for the meaning of existence," adding that the "main character is not sure if she has a soul or not," which is a similar theme explored in Kamiyama's previous project, Ghost in the Shell.

Fellow co-director Shinji Aramaki said that Black Lotus is also "a revenge story," as well as a story about a woman "trying to find herself." He added they also wanted to dig deeper in the gap between the rich and the poor in the show that was presented in the original film.

"Keeping the style of Blade Runner while adding new elements was very challenging for us," Aramaki said.

Blade Runner: Black Lotus is set to premiere on Adult Swim Nov. 13 at midnight ET.

Click here for SYFY WIRE’s full coverage of New York Comic Con 2021