Cyberpunk is so hot right now. Whether it’s Blade Runner, Black Mirror, or Ghost in the Shell, cyberpunk is having a moment right now. Netflix has decided to jump in on that genre head first with their new TV show Altered Carbon. The first trailer for Altered Carbon was revealed this weekend and it looks extremely promising.
The Netflix show is based on Richard Morgan’s cyberpunk novel of the same name, and stars Joel Kinnaman in the lead role as Takeshi Kovacs, who is also played by Will Yun Lee. A cyberpunk mega-corporation affords people to stay young forever by selling replacement plastic nutrient sacks and human minds are digitized and then downloaded to another body (or sleeve). Science fiction fans will appreciate the subtle nods to classics such as Alien and Total Recall.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Based on the classic cyberpunk noir novel by Richard K. Morgan, Altered Carbon is an intriguing story of murder, love, sex, and betrayal, set more than 300 years in the future. Society has been transformed by new technology: consciousness can be digitized; human bodies are interchangeable; death is no longer permanent. Takeshi Kovacs is the lone surviving soldier in a group of elite interstellar warriors who were defeated in an uprising against the new world order. His mind was imprisoned, “on ice”, for centuries until Laurens Bancroft, an impossibly wealthy, long-lived man, offers Kovacs the chance to live again. In exchange, Kovacs has to solve a murder … that of Bancroft himself.
The trailer for Altered Carbon not only sounds like a bleak dystopian future like Blade Runner 2049, but also features a dark, yet neon-bright cinematography as Blade Runner 2049. The cast also includes James Purefoy (The Following), Martha Higareda (Royal Pains), Renee Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton), Will Yun Lee (The Wolverine), and Dichen Lachman (Shameless). The show is created by Laeta Kalogridis, who wrote Tim Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland, Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, and Terminator Genisys.
Netflix has spent a lot of money on this project and it will be interesting to see if it pays off for them or flounders like Ghost in the Shell. The first 10-episode season of Altered Carbon arrives on Netflix for your binge-watching pleasure on February 2.