Off-world Colonies

A gleaming promise of new worlds built on the backs of those forbidden to return.

The Off-world Colonies are the off-world colonies referenced in the Blade Runner franchise. They are the settlements beyond Earth where replicants are used for labor. The renegade replicants of the first film came from the off-world colonies, where Roy Batty served as a combat model. People on Earth are encouraged to emigrate there, and Tyrell's replicants are given away as an incentive. The replicants there do the work considered too dangerous for humans, from heavy manual labour to combat. Replicants became illegal on Earth after a bloody off-world mutiny, and those who come back are hunted by blade runners.

Quick Facts

Key labor force: Nexus Series Replicants

Lore & Background

The polluted, overcrowded Earth of the films explains why so many people are leaving for the off-world colonies. One colony is named: Calantha, from which the Nexus-8 replicants Sapper Morton and Iggy Cygnus escaped. By 2049 humanity has colonized nine other planets, which Niander Wallace considers far too few.

Reader's Guide

The Off-world Colonies serve as the critical backdrop for understanding the central conflict of the Blade Runner universe: the struggle between creator and creation. Replicants are forbidden on Earth; those that escape and return are hunted down and "retired" by blade runners.