Update: That didn't take long. Bautista has now been confirmed as joining the film{
Thanks to a praised, breakout turn in Guardians Of The Galaxy and then a quick appearance as stoic henchman Mr. Hinx in Spectre, Dave Bautista's star is on the rise. And according to a new image he's posted to Instagram of himself with a little origami unicorn, it looks like he'll be adding another big project to his list: the Blade Runner sequel.
The film, which is set decades after Ridley Scott's 1982 original, will pick up the story of Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), but beyond that, the details of the tech-noir follow-up are being kept strictly regulated.
What little else do we know? Ryan Gosling is aboard and that Robin Wright looks set to join the two men in the cast. Prisoners and Sicario director Denis Villeneuve will be calling the shots, while the script comes from Hampton Fancher (who had a hand in writing the original film) and Michael Green, a writer on executive producer Scott's next dip into the Alien universe with Prometheus follow-up Alien: Covenant.
Blade Runner 2 (or whatever it ends up officially named) will kick off shooting this July for a release date of January 12, 2018. Bautista is back as Drax for Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, scheduled to arrive here on April 28 next year.