MUMBAI: Harrison Ford is up and ready to star in the sequel to Blade Runner. He will reprise his role as Rick Deckard in the upcoming movie Prisoners. The director Denis Villeneuve is in talks to helm the Alcon Entertainment film.

The film is scheduled to start principle photography in the summer of 2016. Hampton Fancher (who co-wrote the original) and Michael Green have written the screenplay, which is based on an idea from Fancher and Ridley Scott.

The story takes place several decades after the conclusion of the 1982 original, which centered on a man (Ford) working as a blade runner who was tasked with chasing down machines called replicants.

Alcon Entertainment acquired the rights to Blade Runner in 2011 with the intention of making both prequels and sequels to the iconic science-fiction thriller. Bud Yorkin will serve as a producer on the sequel along with Alcon co-founders Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson.

Thunderbird Films CEOs Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble will serve as executive producers.

Villeneuve most recently directed the crime thriller Sicario, staring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro. He also directed Canada’s Oscar-nominated French-language film Incendies and Prisoners, staring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Ford will next be seen in Lionsgate's The Age of Adaline and will reprise his role as Han Solo in Disney's Star Wars: The Force Awakens.