New Delhi, July 30 -- The world Michelle Yeoh inhabits in Blade Runner 2099 is not the one the franchise has occupied for four decades. The rain still falls across Los Angeles. Neon still bleeds through the upper atmosphere. But the city in 2099 belongs to the replicants, and the people who built it are now living at its margins.

"Humans want what was taken from them. But it's our time now."

That reversal is the structural wager showrunner Silka Luisa is making with her eight-episode limited series, premiering November 25 on Prime Video. It positions Blade Runner 2099 as either the boldest thing the franchise has ever attempted in a live-action format or a premise so heavily loaded that sustaining it across a full season will require ev...