Prime VideoHaving robots or some kind of artificial life rise up and control future society is a common trope in science fiction. Sometimes it’s an outright apocalypse, like in Terminator or Battlestar Galactica. Sometimes, when the robots take over, it’s like the ending of the book version of I, Robot, in which the robots take over, but nobody notices because humans are just fine. But what always made the Replicants of Blade Runner different was simple: They weren’t in charge. But now, with the new streaming series, Blade Runner 2099, the basic paradigm of the franchise — that Replicants are hunted by humans — has been inverted. At San Diego Comic-Con 2026, the first images, cast details, and new trailer for Blade Runner: 2049 were all released. Here’s what to know about the fast-approaching show, and why the central premise of Blade Runner has been flipped on its head.Blade Runner 2099 release date Silka Luisa at San Diego Comic-Con 2026. | Amy Sussman/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty ImagesThe new Blade Runner series is coming very soon. The show will debut on November 25, 2026, on Prime Video. The show’s first season will consist of eight episodes. As of this writing, it appears all eight episodes will drop at the same time.Blade Runner 2099 cast and creative teamSilka Luisa, Michelle Yeoh, and Hunter Schafer talk Blade Runner at Comic-Con 2026. | CHRIS DELMAS/AFP/Getty ImagesHere’s who’s starring in Blade Runner 2099:Michelle Yeoh as OlwenHunter Schafer as CoraDimitri AboldLewis GribbenKatelyn Rose Downey Daniel Rigby Johnny Harris Amy LennoxSheila Atim Matthew NeedhamRidley Scott, the director of the original Blade Runner, is a producer. The show was created by Silka Luisa, who is also the showrunner. Luisa has a solid background in adapting sci-fi TV with literary roots. She was the showrunner on the Apple TV series The Shining Girls, based on the novel by Lauren Beukes. Blade Runner 2099 Trailer The new trailer introduces us to the basis set-up of the new Blade Runner world. It’s now 50 years since the events of Blade Runner 2049, and the revolution that was starting there has happened. Replicants now control Earth, and humans are the underclass. The primary story is focused on a Replicant named Olwen (Michelle Yeoh) who teams up with a human named Cora (Hunter Schafer) who is trying to pretend to be a Replicant.This notion inverts the core idea of the original Blade Runner — that Replicants were hard to spot and tried to blend in with humans. The trailer even shows us glimpses of what is probably the same Voight-Kampff test from the classic movie: the empathy test that determined if someone was secretly a Replicant. This makes sense. You wouldn’t have to change the test at all to detect humans; the results would just mean different things.Like the core ideas of Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, Blade Runner: Black Lotus, as well as the original novel — Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — one key question seems to be at the heart of this series: What does it mean to be human? And does it matter if Replicants weren’t “born”? It’s a huge paradigm shift, and we’ll have to see if Blade Runner 2099 will be able to pull it off.Blade Runner 2099 will premiere on Prime Video on November 25.