Blade Runner anime “Black Lotus” sets voice cast

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

It looks like more Blade Runner is on the way, with Adult Swim, Crunchyroll and Alcon Entertainment unveiling the voice cast for their upcoming anime, Blade Runner: Black Lotus. The series is a sequel to a trio of anime shorts that came out back in 2017 in the lead-up to Blade Runner 2049. Black Lotus will take place in 2032 and will center on a female replicant protagonist named Elle, who, revealed today via Deadline, will be voiced by Jessica Henwick. Other voice cast members will include Josh Duhamel,Will Yun Lee, Samira Wiley, Wes Bentley, and Brian Cox.

The series is set to air on Adult Swim in the U.S. and will go out internationally in a Japanese language version via Crunchyroll, who’s co-producing the show. If you’re eager to get a look at the series, you’re in luck as Comic-Con @ Home will be having an online panel on July 23rd, with directors Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed) and Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) along with several members of the crew and Jessica Henwick herself.

You can read the full character breakdown on ComicBook.com along with the full Japanese and American voice cast, but some of the characters include a burnt out Blade Runner named Marlowe (shades of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe) voiced by Josh Duhamel, while Brian Cox plays, what else, a billionaire CEO (typecasting after HBO's Succession).

It’s pretty cool that despite Blade Runner 2049 notoriously underperforming at the box office, the series has been allowed to continue in some form. While maybe not a smash-hit, no one can deny that Denis Villeneuve’s film wasn’t an artistic success and did a good job doing the impossible – being a worthy sequel to Ridley Scott’s masterful original. 

 Are you psyched for Blade Runner: Black Lotus?