Blade Runner 2049: Edward James Olmos Returning as Gaff

A sequel to the original 1982 Blade Runner film has been a long time coming and arrives at last this year, in the form of director Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049. While the movie stars Ryan Gosling, it has long been confirmed that Harrison Ford is reprising his role as the iconic Rick Deckard in the sequel.

There were but a few characters left standing at the end of the original Blade Runner who could potentially return in the sequel, along with Deckard. Of those, the ones that stood out most were Sean Young as the replicant Rachel and Edward James Olmos’ Gaff, who was the last person to see Deckard before he fled at the end of Blade Runner.

Olmos has now revealed that he, too, will be showing up in Blade Runner 2049. During an interview with TheTRENDTalk, the actor confirmed that he is in the upcoming sequel and explained why he insisted for months that he wasn’t in the film. Here’s what he said during the course of the interview:

"I signed a seven page non-disclosure contract. I did, my manager did, my agent did, everybody did. I couldn’t talk about it. I couldn’t talk about it to anybody about it. Guess what? This is the first time that I’m telling the whole world, that yes, I am going to be Gaff in Blade Runner 2049."

Olmos also spoke a bit about his role in Blade Runner 2049, saying that, like the original film, he will have a small but key role in the Blade Runner sequel:

"Well, it’s not about Gaff, but it’s about someone who is going to try to find out certain things about us back then. My role is like it was in the original – that time I only had four scenes, in this I only have one. But again, it’s a poignant little scene."

We know that Ryan Gosling is playing an LAPD police officer named K who is searching for Deckard in Blade Runner 2049, so it is pretty easy to guess that the scene in question will be between Gaff and him. Odds are that this scene will take place earlier in the movie and provide a key clue as to where Deckard could be hiding out. It also means that we probably won’t get a reunion between Gaff and Deckard.

Blade Runner 2049 looks like it is perfectly blending the old and the new. Not only have the trailers shown the visual style of the original film are back in the sequel, but the soundtrack sounds appropriately Vangelis inspired. Bringing back more than one original cast member will also go a long way to tie both films together and there are still rumors that another cast member will return, but de-aged (via CGI).

It’s too bad that Olmos isn’t getting more screen time as the enigmatic Gaff. His character added an element of mystery that was left hanging by the end of the first Blade Runner, as he wove in and out of the storyline. All we do know is that he may have been one of the only characters who could definitively answer whether Deckard was a replicant — but probably won’t, as Villeneuve has repeatedly stated he has no interest in answering that question in his own Blade Runner film.

Source: Screenrant.com