A Netflix and CD Projekt Red collaboration, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, delivers a perfect television adaptation of the cyberpunk genre, capturing its central themes and introducing a new generation to the subgenre.
Cyberpunk has been a thriving sci-fi subgenre for decades, but it’s always struggled to thrive on the small screen. The genre demands more than neon skylines and futuristic gadgets .
Few cyberpunk TV shows have ever balanced its central themes successfully, but one series managed to capture everything great about the genre and distill it into a perfect television experience. The series is a hit collaboration between Netflix, CD Projekt Red, and Studio Trigger. Set in the same universe as the game Cyberpunk 2077, it tells the tale of David , a teenager pulled into the violent underworld of Night City.
Across just 10 episodes, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners quickly became the definitive cyberpunk TV show, earning critical acclaim while introducing a huge new audience to the genre. ScreenRant.com | SF Sci-Fi Archive Interactive Quiz ScreenRant/ TV/ Sci-Fi/ Trivia Signal Received · Deep Space Broadcast The Ultimate Sci-Fi TV Trivia Quiz “The truth is out there.
” 🚀Deep SpaceFinal frontiers ⌛Time TravelWibbly wobbly 👽AliensWe are not alone 👁DystopiaThe black mirror 💡Upside DownHawkins, 1983 ENGAGE → QUESTION 1 / 8STAR TREK 01 The most famous opening monologue in TV sci-fi begins: “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the ___. ” Complete the line from the original 1966 Star Trek series. AUSS Voyager BUSS Defiant CStarship Enterprise DUSS Discovery ✓ Engage!
William Shatner’s iconic opening — “Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before” — has become one of the most quoted passages in all television. Later Trek series would adapt it, but the Enterprise is the one that started it all. ✗ Subspace interference! The answer is Starship Enterprise.
USS Voyager belongs to the 1995–2001 series, the Defiant to Deep Space Nine, and the Discovery to the modern 2017 series. It’s the original Enterprise, captained by James T. Kirk, that William Shatner immortalized in that final-frontier monologue.
NEXT → QUESTION 2 / 8DOCTOR WHO 02 The Doctor’s time machine is disguised as a 1960s British police box and is famously bigger on the inside than the outside. What is the acronym it’s known by? ATRACIS BTARDIS CTRADIS DTANDIS ✓ Allons-y! TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space.
The name was coined by the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan in the very first 1963 episode. The police-box shape is the result of its chameleon circuit getting stuck while parked in 1963 London — and it’s stayed that way for sixty-plus years. ✗ Chronal distortion! The answer is TARDIS — Time And Relative Dimension In Space.
The other options are invented distractors. The TARDIS first appeared in 1963 and has followed every regeneration of the Doctor since, though its interior famously redesigns itself whenever the showrunners want a fresh look.
NEXT → QUESTION 3 / 8BSG REBOOT 03 The acclaimed 2004 Battlestar Galactica reboot — considered one of the greatest sci-fi TV shows ever made — was developed by which writer-producer, a veteran of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine? ARonald D. Moore BJ. Michael Straczynski CDavid Eick DGlen A. Larson ✓ So say we all! Ronald D. Moore developed the modern Battlestar Galactica, reimagining Glen A. Larson’s 1978 original as a gritty, post-9/11 political allegory.
Moore had cut his teeth writing many of TNG and DS9’s best episodes. His BSG aired 2004–2009 and tackled terrorism, torture, faith, and what it means to be human. ✗ Frak! The answer is Ronald D. Moore.
J. Michael Straczynski created Babylon 5, David Eick was Moore’s co-executive-producer on BSG, and Glen A. Larson created the original 1978 Battlestar Galactica. Moore took Larson’s cheesy space opera and rebuilt it into a Peabody Award-winning meditation on war and morality.
NEXT → QUESTION 4 / 8STRANGER THINGS 04 Netflix’s ’80s-drenched sci-fi hit Stranger Things is set in a small American town sitting above a secret government lab that tore a hole into the “Upside Down. ” What is the town called? ADerry, Maine BCastle Rock, Oregon CHawkins, Indiana DSpringwood, Ohio ✓ Friends don’t lie!
Hawkins, Indiana is the fictional town the Duffer Brothers invented for Stranger Things — home to Hawkins National Laboratory, where Dr. Brenner’s MKUltra-style experiments opened a rift into the Upside Down. The show is actually filmed in Jackson, Georgia, but the Hawkins sign is now an iconic TV landmark. ✗ The Upside Down! The answer is Hawkins, Indiana.
Derry is Stephen King’s fictional town from IT, Castle Rock is another King town , and Springwood is from A Nightmare on Elm Street. The Duffer Brothers deliberately evoked King’s small-town horror tradition when creating Hawkins.
NEXT → QUESTION 5 / 8THE X-FILES 05 In The X-Files, Fox Mulder has a famous poster hanging in his FBI basement office — a UFO photograph with a three-word tagline beneath it. What does the tagline say? A“Trust No One” B“The Truth Is Out There” C“Deny Everything” D“I Want To Believe” ✓ The truth is out there!
“I Want To Believe” sits below a blurry UFO photo on the poster that hangs in Mulder’s basement office throughout the series. The line became so associated with the show that it was used as the title of the 2008 feature film, The X-Files: I Want to Believe. ✗ File that one away! The answer is “I Want To Believe.
” “Trust No One,” “Deny Everything,” and “The Truth Is Out There” are all iconic X-Files taglines — but it’s “I Want To Believe” that’s literally printed on the UFO poster in Mulder’s office, and which became the title of the franchise’s 2008 movie. NEXT → QUESTION 6 / 8SEVERANCE 06 Apple TV+’s Severance — about office workers whose memories are surgically divided between their work and personal lives — was created by a first-time showrunner who used to be a customer service rep.
Who is he? ADamon Lindelof BDan Erickson CBen Stiller DJonathan Nolan ✓ Praise Kier! Dan Erickson wrote the Severance pilot while working soul-crushing office jobs — literally daydreaming about splitting his mind so the “work-him” would suffer instead. Ben Stiller came on as executive producer and directed most episodes, but Erickson is the creator whose personal ennui gave us Lumon Industries.
✗ Outie interference! The answer is Dan Erickson. Damon Lindelof created Lost, The Leftovers, and Watchmen; Ben Stiller is Severance’s executive producer and primary director ; Jonathan Nolan created Westworld and Person of Interest. Erickson’s script sat on the Black List for years before Stiller championed it.
NEXT → QUESTION 7 / 8BLACK MIRROR 07 In 2018, Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror released a groundbreaking feature-length episode that let viewers make choose-your-own-adventure style decisions for the protagonist. What was it called? ABandersnatch BUSS Callister CSan Junipero DMetalhead ✓ Interactive transmission received! Bandersnatch followed young programmer Stefan as he adapted a choose-your-own-adventure novel in 1984.
Viewers could make choices at key moments, branching the story into multiple endings. It was Netflix’s most ambitious interactive experiment — and the meta commentary on viewer control remains quintessential Black Mirror. ✗ Null pointer! The answer is Bandersnatch.
USS Callister is the Emmy-winning Star Trek riff, San Junipero is the beloved ’80s romance episode, and Metalhead is the black-and-white robot-dog thriller. All are Black Mirror, but only Bandersnatch was the interactive choose-your-own-adventure special that launched in December 2018.
NEXT → QUESTION 8 / 8FIREFLY 08 Joss Whedon’s space-western Firefly became a legendary cult classic after Fox infamously cancelled it — airing episodes out of order, burying the pilot, and pulling the plug. How many episodes aired on Fox before cancellation? A8 B11 C13 D22 ✓ Shiny! Only 11 of the 14 produced Firefly episodes aired on Fox in late 2002 before the network pulled the plug.
The remaining three first aired in proper order on the Sci-Fi Channel and eventually on DVD. Fan outcry led to the 2005 film Serenity — a rare cinematic rescue for a cancelled series. ✗ Fox strikes again! The answer is 11.
Fourteen episodes were actually filmed, but Fox only aired 11 before cancellation, and they aired them out of order with the pilot held until last. The complete set finally aired on Sci-Fi Channel and DVD, and the fan-driven “Browncoats” campaign eventually convinced Universal to greenlight Serenity. REVEAL MY SCORE → Transmission Complete · Signal Decoded Your Sci-Fi Rating 👽 / 8 Trekkie-level canon — or still buffering? ⤴ RETRANSMIT So successful was Cyberpunk: Edgerunners that it defied fate.
Once originally conceived as a standalone project, viewers connected so deeply that Netflix opted to expand the franchise with a second installment. Although Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 still has no confirmed release date, everything revealed so far suggests the long wait to return to Night City will be worth it. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 2 Will Tell A New Story In Night City One of the biggest reasons Cyberpunk: Edgerunners feels so timeless is that its tale was complete and definitive.
The show remaining as a single-season story made sense. David’s journey had a clear beginning, a heartbreaking end, and an emotional impact that lingered long after the credits rolled. By the time he met his tragic fate, the anime had fully embraced the brutal philosophy at the center of cyberpunk storytelling: Night City destroys almost everyone who dares to dream too big.
However, the overwhelming success of Edgerunners in the years since it arrived led Netflix to rethink their plans, and a second season was confirmed in 2025. However, rather than forcing a continuation of David’s story, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 will have an entirely new standalone narrative featuring a fresh cast of characters. That approach is almost inarguably the right way for Netflix to flesh Cyberpunk: Edgerunners out into a franchise without diluting the emotional impact of the first season.
As a setting, Night City is large enough to sustain countless stories. While little has been revealed about the plot of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 so far, confirmation that it will be an entirely new story should ease fears that the sequel could undermine the original’s ending. The Story May Be New, But The Creative Core Of Edgerunners Remains One of the most reassuring details about Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 is how much of the original creative team remains involved.
Studio Trigger, whose animation style helped define the identity of season 1, is returning. That alone is reassuring, since Trigger’s work was a massive part of why Edgerunners felt so unique compared to other cyberpunk TV shows. CD Projekt Red, the game studio behind Cyberpunk 2077, is also once again heavily involved in Edgerunners, ensuring the anime remains deeply connected to the wider Cyberpunk universe. Subscribe to our newsletter for Edgerunners insights Want deeper analysis?
Subscribing to our newsletter unlocks focused coverage on Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, including creative team shifts, new-season storytelling, Night City lore, and curated perspectives on related cyberpunk titles to broaden your view. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. There are, however, some major creative changes behind the scenes.
For example, Hiroyuki Imaishi, who directed Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 1, will not return as director for the second installment. Instead, Kai Ikarashi is stepping into the role. That might sound concerning at first given how beloved the original anime became, but Ikarashi is hardly an outsider unfamiliar with the franchise. He previously worked on Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 1 and storyboarded the standout episode"Girl on Fire," which remains one of the show’s most visually impressive and emotionally intense chapters.
The majority of the team behind Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 already have direct experience with the show, even if they’re taking on new roles like Ikarashi. The creative vision that made Cyberpunk: Edgerunners so unforgettable clearly remains intact.
Even though the characters and storyline will change, everything currently known about the production strongly suggests season 2 understands exactly what audiences loved about the show in the first place. 48 8.8/10 Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed Animation Action Adventure Release Date 2022 - 2022 Network Netflix Writers Mike Pondsmith, Yoshiki Usa, Masahiko Otsuka Franchise Cyberpunk Cast See All Powered by Expand Collapse
Cyberpunk TV Series Netflix CD Projekt Red Studio Trigger Sci-Fi TV Show Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Night City David Zach Aguilar Neon Skylines Futuristic Gadgets Balance Themes Critical Acclaim New Audience Introduction Earning Recognition Upside-Down World
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