Altered Carbon Season 2 Release Date: Netflix Picks Late February Return for Cyberpunk Series

Just over two years since its debut, Altered Carbon is coming back. Netflix has set a February 27 release date for the second season of the sci-fi cyberpunk series — created by Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island) — which stars Anthony Mackie (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) in the lead as Takeshi Kovacs, taking over from Joel Kinnaman, who donned the role in the first season. Mackie will be joined by returning Chris Conner as the A.I. Edgar Poe, and Renée Elise Goldsberry as Envoys leader Quellcrist Falconer. New cast members include Simone Missick (Luke Cage), Dina Shihabi (Jack Ryan), Torben Liebrecht (Operation Finale), James Saito (Modern Love), and Lela Loren (Power).

Behind the scenes, creator and showrunner Kalogridis has given way to Alison Schapker (Alias, Fringe), who was originally hired as co-showrunner alongside Kalogridis before being upgraded to sole showrunner. Kalogridis remains as an executive producer and she also wrote the first episode of Altered Carbon season 2. Unlike the 10 episodes in season 1, season 2 has a total of 8 episodes and will likely be based on the events of Broken Angels, the second of three books featuring Kovacs from English author Richard K. Morgan. Though Morgan hasn't written a new one since 2005, the Netflix series' arrival in 2018 made him reconsider returning to the world.

Altered Carbon premiered in February 2018 to generally favourable reviews, though we took a much dimmer view of the series, labelling Kovacs a drab and passive character, calling the plot and action incoherent, and drowning its class themes amidst copious amounts of violence. Ultimately, we felt that it had an expensive sleeve with a missing stack. Hopefully, Netflix has used the two-year gap to fix some of those issues.

Here's the official synopsis for Altered Carbon season 2, from Netflix:

“Season Two of the sophisticated and compelling sci-fi drama finds Takeshi Kovacs, the lone surviving soldier of a group of elite interstellar warriors, continuing his centuries old quest to find his lost love Quellcrist Falconer. After decades of planet-hopping and searching the galaxy, Kovacs finds himself recruited back to his home planet of Harlan's World with the promise of finding Quell. Haunted by his past and responsible for investigating a series of brutal murders, Kovacs is stunned to discover his new mission to solve the crime and his pursuit to find Quell are one and the same. With the help of his loyal A.I. Poe, Kovacs must now partner with new allies to outwit his enemies and find the truth: Who is Quellcrist Falconer?”

Altered Carbon season 2 is out February 27 on Netflix in India and elsewhere.