10 Movie Scenes That Brilliantly Subverted Expectations

Not unlike Top Gun: Maverick, Blade Runner 2049 also seemed primed to do the Legacy Sequel Thing of introducing a new protagonist related to the original hero.

With the sequel revolving around replicant K (Ryan Gosling) and the search for the child of original protagonist Deckard (Harrison Ford) and his replicant lover Rachael (Sean Young), K seemed like the most obvious fit, perfectly positioning him as the Chosen One to carry the series' torch forward.

And while the film seems to be going in that direction for most of its runtime, it's eventually revealed that Deckard and Rachael's child is female, and ultimately a minor character, Dr. Ana Stelline (Carla Juri), encountered in a single scene earlier on.

This bait-and-switch didn't only avoid the groan-worthy contrivance of making our protagonist the convenient centre of the universe, but it actually bettered his character arc, forcing him to come to terms with not being "special," but still managing to make a difference by story's end.

And that's one of the big reasons why, against overwhelming odds, Blade Runner 2049 is a better movie than the original.