KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 — Malaysian actress Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh has revealed that she specifically asked not to play a human when she signed on for the upcoming sci-fi series Blade Runner 2099.
The Oscar-winning actor told The Guardian that she was adamant about the nature of her character: “I don’t want to be human.”
Yeoh had received what she described as a love letter from the show’s creator, Silka Luisa, asking her to join the project.
The result is Olwen, a synthetic being known on the show as a replicant, who Yeoh describes as “terrifying,” with a cold, steely gaze.
She said that Olwen does not move like a machine, adding, “She’s sort of fluid. Like a dragon. Like a serpent.”
The series is set 50 years after the last Blade Runner film, in a world where replicants are in charge and humans occupy a permanent underclass.
This premise, with its echoes of current anxieties about artificial intelligence, required Yeoh to think deeply about the nature of synthetic beings.
She noted that replicants, as lab-created beings, had no childhood, resulting in no concept of private space.
“They’re in your face and if they want something, they take it,” she said.
The role also required Yeoh to project a commanding presence, making her feel as though she towered over her much taller co-star, Hunter Schafer.
Blade Runner 2099 will premiere on Prime Video on November 25.
