The Six Renegade Replicants are a group of fugitive Nexus-6 replicants that arrived on Earth in 2019.
Six Replicants
- 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 is designed as a test run for a replicant that can become pregnant.
According to Deckard, a normal replicant can usually be discovered using the Voight-Kampff test, after being given 20–30 questions. Rachael answers over 100 questions before Deckard determines she is a replicant. The theatrical cut's voice-over ending said that as an experimental replicant, Rachael didn't have the four-year life but the Director's Cut did not address this. Scott said that he had wanted to cast a young actress in the role to emphasize Rachael's naivety and unworldliness.
- Roy Batty - is a self-sufficient combat model for the colonization defense program. (Physical-A, Mental-A, serial number N6MAA10816). He is a commando and suggested by Bryant to be the leader of the escaped group.
- Leon - is a combat model or loader of nuclear fission materials. (Physical-A, Mental-C, N6MAC41717).
- Zhora - was a sex worker "trained for an off-world kick murder squad". (Physical-A, Mental-B, N6FAB61216).
- Pris - is referred to as a "basic pleasure model" for military personnel (Physical-A, Mental-B, N6FAB21416).
- Hodge - in early versions of the screenplay—was 'fried' in an electrical field at the Tyrell Corporation[1]
- Mary - in early versions of the screenplay. The only mention of this replicant occurs in the "Final Cut" and workprint versions[citation needed] of the film (2007)—Captain Bryant alludes to her when he mentions that two replicants were killed by the electric field; in the 1982 U.S. theatrical version of the film, he mentions only one replicant.
As a result, four replicants remained alive for a time until Blade Runner Rick Deckard was ordered to retire them to prevent knowledge of their presence from spreading, as replicants are illegal on Earth.
Behind the Scenes
In the original version of Blade Runner, it is mentioned that one of the replicants got 'fried' instead of two. This meant that there was a missing fifth replicant that never appeared in the film. This has been fixed in the Final Cut. In this version, M. Emmet Walsh was brought in to dub over his previous "five replicants" line and say six, as well as stating that two of them got fried instead of one.
The replicant that never was
The original release production audio has Bryant saying "I have five skinjobs on the street". The workprint had it overdubbed to "four". The dub is clearly a studio executive. It was intended to be a place holder until they could rerecord it with M. Emmet Walsh. However, due to the creation of the Voice-over and "Happy Ending" running the time to finish the film out, like many things, the line was never rerecorded. One of these five replicants is said to be Mary. Mary appeared in an early script and was even cast with Stacy Nelkin—who had screen-tested for Pris—in the role. The scenes for this character were dropped due to budget restraints. At the time the filmmakers decided to leave out the character, they had already filmed the Bryant/Deckard scene which states there were six replicants. According to the script the story goes like this:
Deckard kills Zhora and then spots Rachael looking on. He chases Rachael, only to be beaten up by Leon. After Rachael kills Leon, Deckard buys a bottle of Tsing Tao and has to warn her with a glance when Gaff approaches. Gaff takes him to Bryant, who tells him that there were "four to go" (Roy, Pris, Mary, and Rachael).
When they eliminated Mary from the script, they had a problem: Bryant should say that there are "three to go" (Roy, Pris, and Rachael). Instead of reshooting this scene, they moved it and the scene of Deckard buying Tsing Tao ahead of Leon's death, so that the "four to go" would be Roy, Pris, Leon (not Mary), and Rachael. They nearly got away with this, but a few problems remained:
- When Deckard is talking to Bryant, he shows wounds from his fight with Leon, although he hasn't had the fight yet. This has been fixed in the Final Cut.
- Since he now buys his bottle before he fights Leon, it should be there while he's chasing Rachael and fighting Leon (it's not). The bottle mysteriously reappears when he gets back to his apartment. Considered a beloved flaw by Scott.
This problem is purely the result of Bryant telling Deckard, "I've got four skin jobs walking the streets" but only accounting for one of the remaining two.
It is rumored that during dubbing, Ridley Scott initially had Bryant's line changed, but then changed his mind and left it with "...six replicants".
Conclusion
You can choose either to believe Bryant's comment about six replicants being an error and that there were always just five replicants. One was 'fried', and Deckard is looking for the last four. In this scenario, Rachael is just another harmless replicant who manages to escape Tyrell Corporation.
OR...
If you choose to believe there are six replicants, there are possibilities that Deckard is the sixth escaped replicant, or Mary is, if you choose to include her character. Otherwise, the sixth replicant is simply unknown.
- OR... the "real deal"...
Since Bryant's line in The Final Cut version of the movie—which Ridley Scott had 100% control over—was changed to say TWO replicants got fried while attempting to break into the Tyrell Corporation, it appears obvious that in the end Scott wanted there to be only four replicants left "on the street"—Roy, Leon, Zhora and Pris, with Rachel then being added by Bryant when he talks to Deckard after Zhora's retirement. This does away with the mysterious "sixth replicant", and any possibility that it's a reference to Deckard.