Replicant

Bioengineered humanoids in the Blade Runner films.

A replicant is a fictional bioengineered humanoid appearing in the 1982 film Blade Runner and its 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049. Physically indistinguishable from adult humans, replicants often possess superhuman strength and intelligence. They are detected by the Voight-Kampff test, which measures emotional responses; failing the test leads to execution, euphemistically called 'retiring'.

Quick Facts

First appearance

1982 film Blade Runner

Notable models

Nexus-6
Nexus-7
Nexus-8
Nexus-9

Detection method

Voight-Kampff test

Lifespan

Nexus-6: four years; Nexus-8 and Nexus-9: open-ended

Key ability

Nexus-7 can procreate

Facts from the source article.

Origin of the term

The term replicant originated during the screenplay adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which used 'android' or 'andy'. Director Ridley Scott wanted a new term to avoid audience preconceptions. From that, Peoples or Scott coined 'replicant', which was inserted into Hampton Fancher's screenplay. Pejorative terms for replicants in Blade Runner media include 'skinjob' and 'doll'.

Fictional history

Replicants became illegal on Earth after a bloody off-world mutiny. The escaped replicants were Roy Batty, a combat model for the colonization defence program; Pris Stratton, a basic pleasure model for military personnel; Zhora Salome, trained for an off-world kick murder squad; Leon Kowalski, a combat model or loader of nuclear fission materials; an unnamed replicant killed at the Tyrell Corporation; and a sixth replicant, named 'Mary' in early screenplays, also killed at Tyrell.

Other replicants include Rachael, a prototype with implanted memories from Eldon Tyrell's niece, designed as a test for a replicant that could become pregnant. Nexus-6 units had a four-year lifespan to prevent emotional development. Rachael answered over one hundred Voight-Kampff questions before being identified as a replicant. The sequel reveals Rachael had human reproductive organs and conceived a child with Deckard, dying in childbirth.

Ambiguity over Deckard's humanity

A central element of Blade Runner is whether protagonist Rick Deckard is human or a replicant, blurring the line between humans and replicants. Harrison Ford, who played Deckard, stated he did not think Deckard was a replicant and that discussions with director Ridley Scott ended in agreement that the character was human. Author Will Brooker suggested the unicorn dream might not be unique to Deckard and could be an embedded memory in some or all Nexus-6 replicants, possibly implying Gaff is also a replicant.

Ridley Scott has stated in interviews that Deckard is a replicant; in 2012 he said of a possible sequel, 'Well, he was a Nexus-6, so we don't know how long he can live.' Paul Sammon, author of Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner, proposed Deckard might be a Nexus-7 model with no superhuman traits but neurological features completing the illusion of humanity, and that Nexus-7 replicants may have no set lifespan. In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Deckard passed the Voight-Kampff test, marking him as human, though Rachael's near-passing casts doubt on the test's infallibility.

Supervising Editor Terry Rawlings recalled that Scott purposefully placed Ford in the background with glowing eyes, intending to leave the question up to the viewer.