New Amazon Studios TV series Blade Runner due to begin filming in Northern Ireland, locally shot The School for Good and Evil airs on Netflix next week

At an event earlier this week hosted by NI Screen which discussed plans for the next four years, chief executive Richard Williams revealed the series as another exciting, big-budget production coming to these shores.

Harrison Ford starred in the original filmed in 1982 and reprised his role in the 2017 sequel alongside Ryan Gosling. It’s not yet known if either of the actors will star in the series based on the book ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ by Philip K Dick.

The series will be produced by Amazon Studios and the film’s original director Sir Ridley Scott.

Despite pandemic-related challenges the combined budgets for productions supported by Northern Ireland Screen during its last strategy between 2018 and 2022 exceeded a billion pounds, with more than £330m of that staying in the local economy, surpassing the £300m target set in 2018.

Building on that success, Northern Ireland Screen’s new strategy has increased that target by more than 40% to £430m.

Some of the biggest success stories have included Lisa McGee’s ‘Derry Girls’, Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Belfast’ and record breaking audiences for ‘Line of Duty’ and ‘Bloodlands’.

Meanwhile, Netflix film ‘The School for Good and Evil’, which was filmed at locations throughout Northern Ireland including St Anne's Cathedral, Mount Stewart, Ulster Folk Museum, Clandeboye Estate, Big Dog Forest, Woodburn Forest and Castle Archdale, will be released on Wednesday.

Richard Williams, Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Screen, said: “While we recognise that there is considerable market turbulence right now and that there are big challenges ahead, we are confident that there will still be sufficient opportunities for the industry to continue to grow and we will do what we can to assist with these challenges.

"We must keep chasing the opportunities and upskilling our workforce because there are many more stories that need to be told.

“We are incredibly grateful to the Department for Economy and Department for Communities for their continued support as we endeavor to become the strongest screen industry in the UK and Ireland outside of London.”