For several decades, a question has obsessed people who have seen the film Blade Runner: Is Deckard a replicant or a human? Harrison Ford ended the debate.
The seventh art is riddled with unanswered questions that have been the subject of theories and analyzes by spectators for decades. Does the spinning top of Inception stop at the end of the film? Was there room on the board for Jack in Titanic? What’s in the Pulp Fiction suitcase?
We owe one of the most enigmatic to Ridley Scott, director of the film “Blade Runner”: Is Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, really a human, or is he actually a replicant? Since the release of the cult film in 1982, many fans of the film or simple cinema enthusiasts have asked themselves the question.
Even the film crew disagreed on the conclusion of “Blade Runner”: Ridley Scott always claimed that his hero was actually a robot, an opinion that was not shared by the lead actor, Harrison Ford… Until today.
On the sidelines of the release of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”, in May 2023, Harrison Ford ended up admitting that he agreed with Ridley Scott. Deckard would indeed be a robot, according to the actor in an interview with Esquire: “I always knew I was a replicant,” he admitted.
This confirms a theory that has been driving fans for years. Several pieces of evidence also support this: Deckard’s eye glows slightly during a scene with Rachel, as do the eyes of other humanoids in “Blade Runner.”
When she asks him in the film if he has already taken the test that reveals whether you are a human or a robot, many will also have noticed that the character does not respond, having fallen asleep. Finally, an origami in the shape of a unicorn, which Deckard dreams of in the middle of the film, is left by Gaff in front of his apartment: he would thus have access to his memory and his dreams.
But let’s admit it: “Blade Runner” never explicitly answers the question (which is also its charm) and after all, Harrison Ford is an actor like any other… The only person who could give an answer to this mystery may be Philip K. Dick, author of the novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” who inspired Blade Runner and therefore creator of the character of Rick Deckard. The American writer died in 1982, a few months before the film’s release.
