Overview
The Blade Runner record charts a future shaped by synthetic humans, corporate power, and the steady expansion of life beyond Earth. In this history, replicants serve as labour, security, and colonial support units, while major cities absorb the cultural and environmental effects of constant industrial pressure. Los Angeles stands at the centre of many of the best known entries, but the timeline reaches further than one city or one case file. It captures public crises, policy disputes, industrial revivals, and investigations that reveal how tightly memory, identity, law, and commerce are bound together in this world.
Read in order, these entries trace the public milestones that define the era. The 2019 events establish the social and legal tensions around replicants at street level. Blackout 2022 then marks a major break in the historical record by disrupting infrastructure and destroying valuable archives, which changes how governments, police departments, and corporations manage information in the decades that follow. By 2032 and 2036, new arguments emerge around production, regulation, and the future of synthetic labour. In 2048 and 2049, the consequences of those earlier decisions become visible in new field operations and renewed scrutiny of long standing systems. Later records point toward 2099, suggesting that the world continues to evolve well beyond the events most audiences know first. This hub keeps the focus on dates, settings, and chronology, so you can place each film, series, and short in the wider Blade Runner timeline without plot heavy detail.
Key Timeline Records
When does Blade Runner happen in Blade Runner? (2019)
Ridley Scott's film records a rain soaked Los Angeles in November 2019.
Open event →When does Blade Runner the game happen in Blade Runner? (2019)
Westwood's side story follows rookie blade runner Ray McCoy during the same 2019 period.
Open event →When does Blackout 2022 happen in Blade Runner? (2022)
The anime short depicts the catastrophic blackout that reshapes the historical record in 2022.
Open event →When does Blade Runner: Black Lotus happen in Blade Runner? (2032)
This television series is set in 2032 during the post blackout era.
Open event →When does 2036: Nexus Dawn happen in Blade Runner? (2036)
The short film shows Niander Wallace pressing to legalise a new generation of replicants.
Open event →When does 2048: Nowhere to Run happen in Blade Runner? (2048)
This short follows Sapper Morton shortly before the major 2049 investigations begin.
Open event →When does Blade Runner 2049 happen in Blade Runner? (2049)
The sequel returns to Los Angeles in 2049 and documents a later stage of the same future history.
Open event →When does Blade Runner 2099 happen in Blade Runner? (2099)
This later record points to a setting decades after the events of 2049.
Open event →FAQ
When does Blade Runner start in timeline order?
The earliest major screen setting on this hub is 2019. That year covers both the original Blade Runner film and the related game story, which sit at the opening of the modern Blade Runner timeline.
What comes between Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049?
Several key records fill the gap, including Blackout 2022, Black Lotus in 2032, Nexus Dawn in 2036, and Nowhere to Run in 2048. Together they map the technological and political changes that lead into 2049.