EXCLUSIVE: Coming off directing and executive producing the first two episodes of FX’s Shōgun, Jonathan van Tulleken has been tapped to direct and executive produce the first two episodes of another high-profile limited series, Prime Video‘s Blade Runner 2099.
Tulleken replaces Jeremy Podeswa, who was originally set to direct the first two episodes but had to step away due to scheduling conflicts as the Blade Runner 2099 production schedule was altered by the WGA strike.
The series was originally slated to film in Belfast last summer. In May, a couple of weeks into the writers strike, it was revealed that, due to the work stoppage, production on Blade Runner 2099 was delayed, likely until spring 2024. Northern Ireland Screen said at the time the project had “been prepping on the ground in Belfast for many months now.”
In October, it was reported that Blade Runner 2099 was moving away from Belfast. Series’ studio, Alcon, has since set up production in Prague, the Czech Republic, which has been attracting major sci-fi streaming series including Apple TV+’s Foundation.
Filming on Blade Runner 2099 is slated to begin in April.
The limited series hails from Alcon Entertainment and Scott Free Productions, with Ridley Scott, who directed the original 1982 Blade Runner movie, executive producing Blade Runner 2099, a follow-up to the 2017 movie sequel Blade Runner 2049.
Silka Luisa is writer, executive producer and showrunner on the live-action series. Michael Green, who wrote Blade Runner 2049, serves as a non-writing executive producer, along with Alcon co-founders Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson, Alcon’s head of television Ben Roberts, David W. Zucker and Clayton Krueger from Scott Free, Cynthia Yorkin, Frank Giustra, and Isa Dick Hackett. Tom Spezialy, who was part of the writers room on the show, also serves as an executive producer, along with Richard Sharkey.
In 2011, Alcon secured film, television, and ancillary franchise rights to produce prequels and sequels to the 1982 science-fiction thriller Blade Runner. Since that time, Alcon has financed and produced the Blade Runner 2049 as well as the recent Blade Runner: Black Lotus, an anime series that debuted in 2022 on Adult Swim and Crunchyroll.
Van Tulleken also recently served as director/executive producer on thr Apple TV+ series The Changeling. He is repped by WME, Grandview and Independent.
Blade Runner 2049 was primarily filmed in Budapest, at Origo and Korda Studios, although additional shooting also took place in Spain, Iceland, Mexico, and Nevada in the United States.
