Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Showrunner Talks Season 2 Ending, Future Plans & More
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners has kicked off a new era of its franchise with the release of a new season of episodes with Netflix, and ComicBook got to dig into all sorts of spoiler filled details about the season with the showrunner behind it all. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 picks up after the end of the original series and introduces fans to a whole new set of characters making their own way through Night City. But while its new characters and a new story, it shares a lot of thematic similarities with the first series.
That’s the core of what Cyberpunk: Edgerunners showrunner Bartosz Sztybor wanted to be sure to emphasize when speaking to ComicBook about the new season. Digging into all of the spoilery details about putting the new episodes together, crafting each of these characters, and the conversations between the themes of both seasons, Sztybor opened up about everything that went into it all. Read on for our full interview below (which has been edited for length and clarity).
When Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 Started Coming Together
NICK VALDEZ, COMICBOOK: That original [Cyberpunk: Edgerunners] series ended on as conclusive of an ending as one could get. So I’m just curious as to how you even approached crafting another story to continue it on. When in the process did you decide to introduce a whole new batch of characters with it? Was it something you had in mind from the very beginning?
BARTOSZ SZYTBOR: Maybe not the very beginning, but while writing scripts for Edgerunners, I already had some stories for other Edgerunners, I would say. There were a few, but I thought the best approach would be to tell a story that will be a mirror and a dialogue. So I’m in a constant dialogue with season one. That’s why Weak is somehow David in reverse. So the idea was in 2021 or even 2020, and then I searched for the right story for the right context.
There was never an option to do a classic proper sequel to resurrect David. No, no, we don’t want to do things like that. But I somehow wanted to show that there are always consequences to your choices and even you can die, but there are still consequences. So that was something that was about what I was thinking constantly with Edgerunners 2.
Speaking to that it’s cool to see that David’s actions in that first series reverberated as it essentially made Arasaka weakened for this exploit. So I wanted to ask about focusing on the Relic Chip and Project Capricorn for this series as a result of that. Was that something you wanted to introduce in this series now that you’ve already helped to establish the Night City world in that first season?
Yes, yes. I mean, a lot of things were somehow born in the process when we were talking what we can use, what we can’t use, what we won’t use. The idea behind Edgerunners was always to somehow mirror things that already happened. So David’s arc and Weak’s arc are somehow similar, but then you have Capri and the Chip, which mirrors V and Johnny Silverhand from the game. And of course the bigger world building approach. So as you said, David’s actions had consequences and what then happened with this world.
On Hiding D’s True Name
Speaking to David and parallels, we have another David here in this series with D. What was the idea behind hiding his name was David? We get that full parallel at the end where he essentially turns into David [Martinez], but I just want to know from your point of view, what the approach to that was?
David, even after dying, there are consequences to what he did. There’s this bigger narrative about those kids with high empathy. But what was super exciting for us was that, again, another parallel, that revenge was also one of the drives for David, and they are a main driver for D. But then we thought, what if he can’t fulfill his revenge? What will happen with him then? And again, what is going to do if he has the possibility to sacrifice?
Because David did one thing, and what I love about the Edgerunners audience is that there is a split. One side of audience thinks that it was a good choice that he sacrificed for love. The other half thinks that, “Oh, it was stupid, he shouldn’t do that.” So that was also another thing that somehow inspired me to write season two, is there glory in sacrifice? So again, that’s as a character, that was those main inspirations, how to create him, what kind of character he is.
You mentioned youth and there’s a lot of youth, especially in this series with Roman, and that’s tapping into the current trend of needing to film things that are happening. And so it is interesting to see that kind of play out here in the sequel. So what was the idea behind Roman and his camera and putting him at the center of this?
There are few things that inspired Roman. One thing is definitely that the creative energy between me and Kai Ikarashi, the director, was amazing. We are both cinephiles, so we wanted to show our love to cinema. The second thing is that in Edgerunners, David and his storyline was rather straightforward. Here you have a few characters, so we needed someone to connect all those characters. The third thing is that it’s another parallel.
David’s story was a story about the end of innocence, so Roman is this one and only innocent character in the whole crew, and this is our way to play with the audience. To suggest that, “Okay, so will it be another story about end of innocence? How will that innocence end for Roman?” But Roman is different than David. You have the same question about innocence in this world, but the outcome may be different because Roman is a different character than David.
Figuring Out Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2‘s Ending
Speaking to that outcome and parallels, the title for the final episode [“Then Everyone Went Home”] made me worried because I thought it was going to be ironic, considering how that first series ended. But now that we’ve been talking here, it really does fit as a companion and makes the project whole because it’s a hopeful and happy ending. So it seems like that’s what you wanted to get across for these characters, right?
Yeah, yeah, exactly. But for me, maybe I’m a weird person, but for me, season one also has a happy ending. But also about that happy ending, to me, Edgerunners 2‘s ending is even more ambiguous than season one’s ending. And for me, it’s so interesting to hear that all the people that saw Edgerunners 2 already are saying that, “Yes, this is a happy ending.” But is it really? I think the audience, after all those nine episodes of violence and sadness, because I think Edgerunners 2 is getting darker much faster than season one, the audience just will take a glimpse of hope as a happy ending. So I really like that this ending is what it is because I think it will give you what you want to get from that story.
That’s the thing because it felt conclusive also. The first season was conclusive in an entirely different way. Character’s fates were clinched, but here it does feel like it’s the end of each of their stories, which was very impressive too. And you mentioned how Weak has a parallel to David, because his whole arc is interesting. He’s Weak Kingsley, and you literally weaken him by stripping him of his modifications at the start. Could you dig into that a little bit more of building him out as a character?
He’s my favorite character. He was the first. I mean, it all started with him. While working on Edgerunners, I had him in the back of my head as a reverse version of David. But then one of my main inspirations for Edgerunners 2 was Léon: The Professional, so I was thinking about that. Another parallel, the relationship between David and Gloria, his mother, that we see the consequences of it, of the way the relationship looked like. But we see that from the perspective of a child, not mother.
So then I thought, let’s now show the relationship between a father and a daughter, but mostly from his perspective and how he needs to rethink who he really is. There was a lot of parallels, a lot of inspirations from movies from the ’90s. This important question that was the final question for David, “Is there glory in sacrifice?” That was also the idea for Weak. I mean, he starts as this super famous merc, but then from episode two, he starts at the bottom. So would he be ready to sacrifice himself as David did in first season?
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 3?
Especially with the scene of him stripping off his jacket, which is him stripping off the crown and the identity before running out to save Talia. Speaking to the Talia aspect of it all too, she feels like the most tragic figure within this. So how did it go just making sure to balance that? Because you’re right, it gets very dark very quickly and it’s because of Talia. She suffers quite a bit.
I think in today’s world, both in pop culture and fashion, the body is such an important thing, and we talk about it a lot. I thought in Cyberpunk‘s reality, that is our reality times 100, it’ll be even more important. I always had an idea to do something about it, and to do something about a character that is super unhappy about who they are. That’s why she’s somehow similar to Weak, who’s been there, done that in a different way. It’s also another parallel to David who was unhappy with who he was and how he looks. So these were the main inspirations for Talia.
Now as a final question here, I do have to ask with the end of this series, is there a potential for more in the future? Because it feels conclusive in its own way, so I do have to ask if there are other characters you might have in mind to explore?
You never know. There’s a lot of stories to tell in Night City and beyond, so you never know. But not only my, but I think the whole studio’s approach, [CD Projekt RED’s], is that there always needs to be a perfect story and a perfect director, artist, or a studio that will be able to pull off this story. So if the stars align and will be able to create something high quality again, then yes. But if there’s no perfect story or no perfect director with his unique or her unique voice, then maybe it will be just two Edgerunners.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is now streaming with Netflix worldwide.