INTERLINKED - Blade Runner 2049, Alien Covenant, Aliens and Soldier - Updated!

In a futuristic society, some people are selected at birth to become soldiers, and trained in such a manner that they become inhuman killing machines. One of the most successful soldiers, Todd 3465 (played by Kurt Russell), is pitted against a new breed of soldiers, and after the confrontation is believed to be dead. His body is left behind in a semi-abandoned colonial planet, and then he is taught about the other aspects of life. But eventually he has to fight the new breed of soldiers again, this time to defend his new home. This is the storyline of the movie Soldier (1998).

As an aside, writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson has stated that as far as he is concerned, his film Soldier is a 'sidequel' to Blade Runner (1982), as it occurs in the same fictional milieu as Scott's film, although it is not actually a follow-up. One of the battle names tattooed on Todd's arm, Tannhauser Gate, is from the speech Rutger Hauer recites near the end of the movie Blade Runner. Todd's service record, displayed on a computer screen, includes the battles of Tannhauser Gate and Shoulder of Orion, which are obvious references to Blade Runner again.

Added to this, in one of the dialogues of Soldier it is mentioned that there was a war at 'Tannhauser Gate'.

An implication in the film is that the genetically-engineered soldiers meant to replace Todd and his fellow soldiers are in fact replicants, continuing a theme from Blade Runner. The 2017 short film 2036: Nexus Dawn, set in between the original Blade Runner and its 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049, implies that Nexus-9 replicants were developed in 2035, the year in which Soldier takes place.

Still from Blade Runner (1982):

Still from Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - a beautiful scene showing the dead city:

Writer David Webb Peoples has said that Soldier is a "side-quel" to Blade Runner (1982) (which he also wrote) because it takes place in the same universe, and in fact the vehicles used by the Blade Runners - spinners - are also used in Soldier. He started writing the screenplay to Solider while Blade Runner was being filmed. As the screenwriter of both films, he has long maintained that they are set in the same universe. Director Paul Anderson agrees, and says that if Kurt Russell's character were to go to Earth, he would have encountered Harrison Ford's Deckard.

Still from Blade Runner 2049 - the eye:

Still from Blade Runner - the eye:

Still from Alien Covenant - the eye:

Still from Soldier - the eye:

The premise of Soldier was actually based on an unused opening scene for Blade Runner, where a group of Replicants are dumped and left for dead on an off-world colony. Both films were released by Warner Brothers, and both were box-office failures that gained a cult following after being released on home video.

Still from Blade Runner 2049:

Stills from Soldier:

Todd's weapons training record lists the "USMC Smartgun" and "M41A pulse rifle" – these are references to Aliens (1986). Among the garbage on the planet is the U.S.S. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the F-117X Remora from Executive Decision (1996), a spinner from Blade Runner (1982), and a piece of the Lewis & Clark from Event Horizon (1997).

Stills from Soldier - Event Horizon's Lewis & Clark:

Still from Soldier - a spinner from Blade Runner:

Still from Blade Runner 2049 - probably a spaceship in the sky which is similar to the Sulaco in Aliens:

Still from Aliens - the Sulaco:

The front of the invading scout ship in Soldier looks just like the front of the Sulaco from Aliens.

Stills from Soldier:

It should be admitted that Soldier offers links to several other movies as well including the Star Wars and the Star Trek universes - similarly to Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace in which you can see the EVA pod from 2001 Space Odyssey.

Still from Soldier - Anoat System and Kessel Binary (from Star Wars) listed on the right:

I would like to highlight that this article does not claim that two or more of these movies take place in the same universe. Intentionally placed extras or not, items of canon or not, easter eggs or not - the visual links in question serve as remarkable and thought provoking features of Blade Runner 2049 and, of course, the other relevant movies created in the twentieth century.

Stills from Soldier:

Source:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120157/