2048: Nowhere to Run

2048: Nowhere to Run is a 2017 American tech noir short film that serves as a prequel to Blade Runner 2049 and a sequel to the short 2036: Nexus Dawn. It is one of three such prequels, alongside Blade Runner Black Out 2022 and 2036: Nexus Dawn. Released on September 16, 2017, about three weeks before the feature film, it stars Dave Bautista as Sapper Morton, a character from Blade Runner 2049, with Orion Ben also appearing. The screenplay was written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green, who also wrote the feature film, and it was directed by Luke Scott, whose father Ridley Scott directed the original Blade Runner and served as executive producer on Blade Runner 2049.

In China and Taiwan, the film is known as 2048: No Escape or 2048: Nowhere to Escape, and is sometimes called Blade Runner 2048. Set in Los Angeles in 2048, one year before the events of Blade Runner 2049, the story follows Morton as he protects a mother and daughter from thugs, an incident that ultimately leads to his exposure as a replicant. In 2048 Los Angeles, Sapper Morton is seen weeping hysterically into a mirror, struggling with past traumas.

He washes his face, puts on his glasses, and walks through a crowded street, where a group of thugs briefly accosts him but he ignores them. He meets Ella and gives her a copy of The Power and the Glory, a book he enjoyed. Later, at a market, he sells leeches he has farmed for $3,000—$1,000 less than he needs. After leaving, he sees the same thugs about to sexually assault Ella and her mother.

Enraged, Morton savagely beats the group, killing most of them and displaying superhuman strength and endurance. Seeing the terror on Ella and her mother’s faces, a remorseful Morton flees, dropping his identification papers. A spectator who had watched him earlier calls the LAPD to report a rogue "skin-job." The Chinese version includes a text-based prologue, previously used before the Chinese release of 2036: Nexus Dawn.

It explains that replicant production was banned after "The Blackout" in 2022, bankrupting the Tyrell Corporation. Earth’s ecosystem has been near collapse since the mid-2020s. Niander Wallace, the blind CEO of the Wallace Corporation, acquired Tyrell and began developing a new generation of replicants as slaves to help rebuild the environment.