Entertainment
Netflix’s 10/10 Cyberpunk Sci-Fi Series Is a Forgotten Masterpiece
Although it’s one of the most celebrated subgenres of science fiction, cyberpunk is criminally underrepresented in live-action TV. Fans have a hard time finding any long-form content to watch that’s not animated, and are generally still waiting for a series that does it justice. The thing is, there is already one that most people forget about: Altered Carbon. Starring Joel Kinnaman and Anthony Mackie as the same character, this groundbreaking Netflix series left an indelible mark on streaming over its two seasons and is proof of the unexplored potential of the genre on TV. There may be more cyberpunk stories on the way for different streaming platforms now, but it all began with mercenary Takeshi Kovacs being re-sleeved.
‘Altered Carbon’ Has One of the Most Creative Worlds in Science Fiction
When thinking about cyberpunk, it’s usually the neon haze, fast-paced action, and interconnectedness between humans and technology that come to mind. All this is present in Altered Carbon, of course, but it also highlights other essential tropes of the genre, like the ever-expanding social gap between the rich and the poor, and how death isn’t the end in a world where the line between the human soul and raw data is blurred. In the series, this is mostly represented by the cortical stack, a disk-like device that stores one’s consciousness and may be inserted into different vacant bodies called sleeves.
That’s where protagonist Takeshi Kovacs comes in. Once part of a rebel group called the Envoys, he is re-sleeved and brought back to life after 250 years at the request of a man named Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy). Part of the wealthy elite known as Meths (like Methuselah, not that other thing), Bancroft recruits Kovacs to investigate his own murder, which didn’t fully succeed thanks to his remote satellite backup (something only made available to absurdly rich individuals). If Kovacs succeeds, he gets to live again in his new sleeve, which is one hell of a prospect after centuries of pretty much not existing.
The series is based on the Richard K. Morgan novel of the same name, posing many of the same philosophical questions. While Meths live in impossibly tall buildings high above the clouds and may be perpetually re-sleeved inside clone bodies, people like Kovacs deal with different sleeves (that is, if they even get new ones) and live precariously in the darkness of the surface. Because of all that, notions like identity and morality become fluid, since death isn’t necessarily final, and your current body may very well not be the only one you’ll ever have.
‘Altered Carbon’ Broke New Ground in Live-action Cyberpunk on Streaming
There’s a reason there aren’t many live-action cyberpunk series around: the genre usually thrives in animation, which favors the surreal aesthetic and fast-paced narratives. Replicating it in live-action is a huge financial risk, since production costs are often higher than the average series’ budget, thanks to setting and CGI, for example. As Joel Kinnaman revealed at the time, Altered Carbon itself had “a bigger budget than the first three seasons of Game of Thrones.” That’s a risk not many are willing to take, of course, an investment that’s usually reserved for feature films with blockbuster potential.
So, when Netflix released Altered Carbon in 2018, it felt almost like a statement that not only could it compete with premium cable in both scale and tone, but also give audiences something they wouldn’t find on TV. It was the first proper live-action cyberpunk series in decades, effectively opening the doors to the genre for fans and newcomers alike. The series checks nearly all of cyberpunk boxes, including the pulpy noir feel of Takeshi Kovacs’ story, the existential sublayer that is intrinsic to it, and an R-rating mostly due to its gritty action sequences and adult themes.
Thanks to all that, Altered Carbon shaped what cyberpunk could be in a series. Its first season was acclaimed by audiences and critics thanks to its impressive visuals and futuristic pulpy detective story. Only in cyberpunk would you find the story of a man in a body that isn’t his, using an abandoned hotel managed by an Edgar Allan Poe AI (Chris Conner), for example. All that happening in live-action with live actors sets the series apart from other works of the genre in visual media. Season 2 then doubled down on what made the series special, but, unfortunately, it didn’t work out as well as Season 1 did.
Despite Being Short-Lived, ‘Altered Carbon’ Has Become a Cult Favorite for Fans of Cyberpunk
Altered Carbon‘s sleeves are a unique narrative device, and having different actors playing the same character over the seasons seemed like a great way of keeping things fresh and adding star power to the series. Two years after Season 1, Kinnaman was replaced by Anthony Mackie as Takeshi Kovacs, and, while that would seem like a great idea at first, it didn’t translate on screen. Mackie’s version of Kovacs is more charming than Kinnaman’s brooding take, and many behind-the-scenes changes also affected how Season 2 felt to the audience, leaving behind the neon-drenched setting and pulpy noir atmosphere.
Altered Carbon is still regarded by fans as one of the best cyberpunk stories on streaming, despite its flaws, and rightly so. Perhaps if Season 2 had been given the same conditions as Season 1 to tell its story, the series could have gone on longer and become a classic. In the end, instead of the bold statement it was supposed to be about streaming’s potential, it became almost like a cautionary tale about how unstable the whole system may be. Regardless, Altered Carbon is still very much worth the watch, and is still the standard for what live-action cyberpunk can achieve.