Tom Burke is perhaps best known for playing private detective Cormoran Strike in the BBC's hit crime series, Strike, which aired its latest season in December last year – but his next TV role couldn't be more different!
The 43-year-old actor is set to star in the upcoming thriller, Blade Runner 2099, a limited series which follows on from the 2017 movie sequel Blade Runner 2049. Intrigued? Keep reading for all we know so far.
© Ash Knotek/ShutterstockBlade Runner 2099 plot
While plot details for the upcoming Prime Video series have been kept under wraps so far, industry insider Daniel Richtman shared a synopsis (per Empire) that reads: "In Los Angeles 2099, Cora lived her entire life on the run, a chameleon forced to adopt numerous identities. To secure a stable future for her brother, she assumes one final identity and is forced to partner with Olwen, a Replicant who's confronting the end of her life."
Meanwhile, Tom revealed that the series explores "what makes somebody human".
"It's a lot to do with that thing quite intrinsic to the source material in the movie, which is actually what makes somebody human and what makes somebody not human," he told Variety, adding: "Or when does somebody cross some threshold."
© Daniele VenturelliBlade Runner 2099 cast
The upcoming series boasts a star-studded cast led by Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer.
Dimitri Abold (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) and Lewis Gribben (Somewhere Boy) will appear as series regulars, while Tom and Maurizio Lombardi (Ripley) have been cast in recurring roles.
Meanwhile, Katelyn Rose Downey (The Nun II), Daniel Rigby (Renegade Nell), Johnny Harris (A Gentleman In Moscow), Amy Lennox (Only Child), Sheila Atim (The Woman King), and Matthew Needham (House of the Dragon) will appear in recurring guest star roles.
© NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockWhat else has been said about Blade Runner 2099?
Expanding on the philosophical questions posed by the franchise during his Variety interview, Tom said: "Can we really have a full sense of humanity without being very aware of our own dual sides? We all have the capacity for great evil as well as great good. I suppose every genre does that to some extent, but I do feel that the morality, that whole kind of thing is handled so well in the 'Blade Runner' world, to me.
"It's got subtleties and nuances to it that I don't think necessarily all sci-fi always has," he added.
Tom also revealed that the upcoming series is "much closer to the aesthetic of the first movie than the second movie", with a return to "that somewhat kind of Baroque, eclectic mix of cultures and time periods".
© Gilbert Flores/Getty ImagesBlade Runner 2099 release date
A release date for Blade Runner 2099 has yet to be confirmed, although the series is expected to air in the latter half of this year.
