2036: Nexus Dawn

2036: Nexus Dawn (also released in Chinese and Taiwanese markets as 2036: Clone Era, 2036: Chain Dawn, or 2036: Copy of the Times, and sometimes called Blade Runner 2036) is a 2017 American short film that serves as a prequel to the feature Blade Runner 2049. It is one of three such prequels, the others being Blade Runner Black Out 2022 and 2048: Nowhere to Run. Released on August 30, 2017, about five weeks before the feature film, it stars Jared Leto as Niander Wallace and Benedict Wong.

The screenplay was written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green, who also wrote the feature, and it was directed by Luke Scott, whose father Ridley Scott directed the original Blade Runner and served as executive producer on the sequel. Set in Los Angeles in 2036—13 years before Blade Runner 2049—the short follows Wallace as he meets with lawmakers to argue for permission to produce his new line of replicants. Niander Wallace is summoned to a hearing regarding his plan to manufacture a new generation of replicants.

The lawmakers warn him that his actions are illegal and not up for discussion, but Wallace counters that they are, in fact, debating it. He argues that Earth’s ecosystem is collapsing and that only cheap replicant labor can sustain humanity. He insists the new replicants pose no threat to humans, but the lawmakers remain skeptical. To prove his point, Wallace orders his Nexus-9 replicant assistant to cut himself and then choose between Wallace’s life and his own.

The replicant slits his own throat, shocking the lawmakers. Wallace then asks again whether they will authorize production. The Chinese version includes a text-based prologue explaining that replicant production was banned after the 2022 Blackout, which bankrupted the Tyrell Corporation. Earth’s ecosystem has been near collapse since the mid-2020s.

It notes that Niander Wallace, the blind CEO of Wallace Corporation, acquired Tyrell and began developing a new replicant generation to serve as slaves for rebuilding the environment. This prologue also appears before the Chinese version of the short 2048: Nowhere to Run.