Ryan Gosling to Star in ‘Blade Runner’ Sequel

Ryan Gosling at SXSW (ET Online)

Ryan Gosling looks like he’s replicant-hunting.

Long reluctant to join any major blockbuster franchises, the 34-year-old has is in talks to join his second studio tentpole movie in as many weeks.

The actor/director, who last week confirmed to Yahoo Movies his likely involvement in Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of the Disney ride The Haunted Mansion, is close to joining the cast of the long-awaited sequel for Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic, Blade Runner. That the press release was put out by the studio producing the film almost guarantees that Gosling will be enlisting in the sequel, and he’d join the cast alongside the first film’s star, Harrison Ford, who will reprise his role as Rick Deckard, the reluctant hero who sets out on a search for the human-like robots made by the Tyrell Corporation.

The film will be directed by Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners), based on a script by original screenwriter Hampton Francher and Michael Green. The story takes place several decades after the original film, and will be the latest franchise — after Indiana Jones and now Star Wars — that brings back Ford to play the same character many years later.

Gosling just released his directorial debut, Lost River, and is now returning to acting after two years away from the spotlight.

“I just finished acting in a film called The Nice Guys with Russell Crowe, and it was a lot of fun to be acting again,” he told Yahoo Movies. “I’m doing a film called The Big Short starting next week with [director] Adam McKay and Steve Carell. I’ll be doing something on the other end of the financial crisis.”

And next year, he’ll be tackling the Tyrell Corporation, which is also too big to fail.