'Blade Runner 2099' series confirms it will shoot in Prague in June

Prime Video's Blade Runner 2099 limited series will be shooting in Prague, Czech Republic; specifically, the capital city's Barrandov Studio, KFTV has confirmed.

Earlier reports had stated it was due to start filming in April, but KFTV has confirmed the production will begin shooting in June. It is slated to continue through the end of 2024, the Czech Film Commission confirmed. 

Production will utilise a vast majority of Barrandov Studio's stages, and the Czech production service company on board is FilmUnited.

The 10 part series had already been in pre-production at Belfast Harbour Studios, but production was halted firstly due to WGA strikes in May 2023 before being scrapped entirely in October. 

At the time, Northern Ireland Screen told our sister site Screen International: “Northern Ireland Screen is extremely disappointed that Blade Runner 2099 will no longer be produced in Northern Ireland,” said Richard Williams, chief executive of NI Screen. ”We are conscious that these difficult decisions do happen in the screen industry, particularly with the most expensive projects which carry the greatest expectations."

Blade Runner 2049, the 2017 feature film directed by Denis Villeneuve was shot in Hungary, at Origo Studios in Budapest and Korda Studios in Etyek; on-location shoots took place at Stock Exchange Palace, Szabadság in Budapest.

The 10 part series is directed by Jonathan van Tulleken, who will executive produce the first two episodes. Tulleken recently directed the first two episodes of FX's Shōgun.

The Blade Runner 2099 limited series comes from Alcon Entertainment and Scott Free Productions. Ridley Scott, who directed the original 1982 Blade Runner and executive produced Blade Runner 2049 for Warner Bros, is executive producing alongside series writer and showrunner Silka Luisa.

Also executive producing are Michael Green, Alcon co-founders Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson, Alcon’s head of television Ben Roberts, Scott Free's David W Zucker and Clayton Krueger, Cynthia Yorkin, Frank Giustra, Isa Dick Hackett, as well as Tom Spezialy who was part of the writers room, and Richard Sharkey.

Czech Republic has recently played host to a variety of high end TV series such as Apple TV's Foundation and AMC's Interview with the Vampire.