Editing Replicant (section)

==Fictional history==
=== ''Blade Runner'' ===
Prior to the events of the film, replicants became illegal on Earth after a bloody off-world mutiny. Six replicants escaped the off-world colonies, killing 23 people and taking a shuttle to Earth; the film focuses on the pursuit of the replicants by Rick Deckard, a type of fictional [[police officer]] called a "Blade Runner", who investigates, tests, and executes replicants.

Escaped replicants (all Nexus-6 models):
* [[Roy Batty]] (played by [[Rutger Hauer]]), a self-sufficient combat model for the colonization defence program
* Pris Stratton (played by [[Daryl Hannah]]), a "basic [[Comfort women|pleasure model]]" for military personnel
* Zhora Salome (played by [[Joanna Cassidy]]), "trained for an off-world kick murder squad"
* Leon Kowalski (played by [[Brion James]]), a combat model or loader of nuclear fission materials
* An unnamed replicant—"Hodge" in early versions of the screenplay—killed in an electrical field at the Tyrell Corporation
* The sixth replicant was named "Mary" in early versions of the screenplay. The only mention of this replicant occurs in the 2007 "Final Cut" version — Captain Bryant's dialogue has been fixed to say that two replicants were killed by an electric field at the Tyrell Corporation; in previous versions of the film, he states it was only one replicant.

Other replicants:
* [[List of Blade Runner characters#Rachael|Rachael]], (played by [[Sean Young]]) is a prototype replicant, with implanted memories from Eldon Tyrell's niece. The sequel film further elaborates on this by revealing she was designed as a test run for a replicant that can become pregnant.

While Deckard discusses Rachael with Tyrell, Tyrell states that to better control replicants he started to implant false memories to give them the years of experiences that humans take for granted, creating a "cushion or pillow for their emotions."

Nexus-6 units were designed to have a four-year lifespan to avoid emotional development, and all attempts to increase a replicant's lifespan have resulted in death. According to Deckard, a normal replicant can usually be discovered using the Voight-Kampff test within 20–30 questions, though Rachael answers over one hundred questions before Deckard determines she is a replicant.

The second film further develops Rachael's origin, and gives significantly more details about her radical design. It revealed that she was an experimental model of replicant with a high percentage of human organs, including human reproductive organs, and that Rachael conceived a child with Deckard. As Rachael died during childbirth, her possible survival beyond the four years was undetermined.

=== ''Blade Runner 2049'' ===
The sequel, ''Blade Runner 2049'', is set thirty years after the original. In the intervening 30 years, several new replicant lines were introduced.

The sequel retroactively establishes that Rachael was part of a short-lived prototype line of replicants designated Nexus-7, which was not only intended as a test to make replicants more mentally stable with implanted memories, but also to develop replicants capable of procreation. Rachael died in childbirth in 2021, and the child was hidden by the replicant underground. Tyrell was killed during the events of the first film in November 2019, and the secret of producing replicants capable of procreation died with him. 

In 2020, the Tyrell Corporation introduced the Nexus-8 replicant, whose lifespans were not limited to four years. The Nexus-8 went into mass production, but a new wave of replicant rebellions occurred, culminating in rogue Nexus-8 replicants detonating a nuclear weapon in orbit over the western United States to create an [[electromagnetic pulse]]. The pulse destroyed most records about replicants, making it difficult for humans to track them down on Earth, but the attack led to mass purges and complete shutdown of Nexus-8 production (though many existing units were able to go into hiding in the chaos).  

In 2036, genetic engineer Niander Wallace designed a new line of Nexus-9 replicants. They also have an open lifespan, but were designed to be unable to resist orders given by a human. The demonstrated effectiveness of Nexus-9 programming, combined with the solving of a global food crisis, allowed for a successful push for the ban on replicant production to be lifted.  

By 2049, Nexus-9 replicants are extensively used across Earth and the off-world colonies. Special police units are tasked with tracking down any that might go rogue, as well as any remaining Nexus-8s still in hiding (Nexus-7 was never mass-produced, and all the Nexus-6 models died of old age decades before). These police units are once again called Blade Runners, but are now composed of self-aware replicants with implanted memories, though they are fully aware that they are replicants and that their memories are artificial.