Episodes 01
“Phantom Lady”
30 years after the Bancroft case, Axley, a Meth, locates Kovacs and offers him a job to protect him. Kovacs wakes up in an enhanced sleeve to find Axley and his security murdered, and Kovacs flees. Kovacs finds himself on the planet of Harlan’s World, now under the control of Danica, the daughter of Konrad, the founder. Danica is in the process of negotiating a ceasefire between two warring sides over mining access. Kovacs recruits help from Tanaseda Hideki and get hotel Nevermore as his hideout. Colonel Carrera takes over the investigation of Axley’s murder and blames it on Kovacs. Kovacs is suspicious of his missing memories and realizes that Quell was there when Axley was murdered.
Episodes 02
“Payment Deferred”
Colonel Carrera leads the Axley murder investigation and reveals that his unit is composed entirely of upgraded sleeves like the one that Kovac is using. Carrera pressures Danica to continue her conflict with the miners, while Danica tries to figure out a way to have to make Carrera leave the planet, thus reducing the control of the Protectorate. Kovacs looks for Axley’s bounty hunter, Trepp, and from the information that he gathers from her, finds two of Axley’s cohorts, Anton and Haruki in a club. Quell arrives and kills all the people in the club including Anton and Haruki, but she escapes before Carrera arrives and captures Kovacs. Poe experienced worsening memory issues and resists the urging from Kovacs that he must reboot.
Episodes 03
“Nightmare Alley”
Kovacs is questioned by Carrera and Danica about the supposed weapon that can destroy all DHF backups, causing permanent death. Danica sentences Kovacs to die in the Circle, a televised gladiatorial event. Carrera extracts the memories of those that Kovacs loved and realizes that who Kovacs is. Carrera reveals that he is Jaeger, Kovacs’s former leader, and then drugs him before the Circle begins. Kovacs enters the arena and is forced to fight mercenaries that appear to be his friends Ortega, Rei, and Elliot. Poe attempts to rescue Kovacs, and teams up with an archaeological AI, Dig 301, to disrupt the power supply to the arena. The fourth mercenary to enter the Circle was supposed to appear as Quell, but she was replaced by the actual Quell to help Kovacs escape. A Quell sympathizer cuts power to the Circle, and the two escape. Trepp’s bounty to find her brother is unsuccessful and ends up in prison for beating a miner. Trepp and Myka lose all their savings to get Trepp out of prison. Trepp decides to find Kovacs because of his increasingly high bounty. Jaeger activates project Evergreen.
Episodes 04
“Shadow of a Doubt”
Quell tries to piece together her memories. Trepp finds Kovacs location, which upsets Kovacs and he hires Dig 301 while firing Poe. Carrera threatens Tanaseda Hideki for helping Kovacs. Kovacs makes a deal with Trepp to find her brother, Anil Imani. Dugan decides not to leave Harlan and keep an eye on Danica. Kovacs approaches Tanaseda and he agrees to get Kovacs and Quell off the planet. Tanaseda intrudes into Danica’s Harlan party and gets permission for two people to transfer out of the planet. Meanwhile, Carrera tortures techs from sector B political prison which makes Danica nervous. Danica straps the techs in Harlan’s celebration rocket fireworks. Angelfire is revealed as the laser defense system in the orbit which shoots down the firework rockets. Quell, murders Tanaseda and his DHF backups same as Axley. Dugan sees the symbol that Kovacs was trying to find the answer for and tries to escape Harlan but is also murdered by Quell. Kovacs realizes that Quell is killing the founders: Dugan, Tanaseda, Axley, Anton, Haruki, and Konrad Harlan. Quell destroys the main transfer point and disables interstellar travel for everyone on the planet. Jaeger’s project evergreen is to double sleeve Takashi Kovacs using an old copy of his stack.
Episodes 05
“I Wake up Screaming”
Kovacs and Trepp return to the hotel to find Quell there. Quell has no idea what got into her and why she is killing the founders. Poe decides to question Konrad Harlan and head into VR. Jaeger’s resurrected Kovacs is motivated by Jaeger by pinning his sister Rei’s death on Kovacs. Kovacs prime investigates Tanaseda’s residence to find the location of the Kovacs. Tanaseda’s great-grandson leads Kovacs prime to Nevermore hotel but Kovacs, Quell, and Trepp escape. Kovacs prime overrides Dig 301 using the root password and extracts information out of her. Kovacs guides Quell and Trepp to Stronghold in hopes of recovering Quell’s memories and running into Kemp. Danica leaks Quell’s videos to instill panic and enact provision 532 to gain absolute control over Harlan. Poe finds that Harlan is not in VR and is hidden somewhere else. He escapes from VR by spreading the nanomites affliction he is affected with. Quell incapacitates Trepp with a neck-hold and flees. Kovacs fights Kovacs prime but is thrown off a cliff edge.
Episodes 06
“Bury Me Dead”
Quell reaches the lake next to Stronghold and regains all her memories. Kovacs prime approaches her as the real Kovacs to find out about the weapon. Quell takes Kovacs prime to the place where Rei had kept her buried for centuries. Even with Jaeger constantly trying to convince Kovacs prime, Kovacs prime starts to understand the reason for the Kovacs’ actions. Trepp rescues Kovacs and they take out 2 members of Carrera’s team. The remaining members are taken out by Kemp and his followers. Quell passes the Envoy test and regains the trust of Kemp and his followers. However, Trepp realizes that Kemp is deceiving them and informs Quell. Kovacs talks to Kovacs prime and he understands the truth about Jaeger and how he had betrayed them. Kovacs prime switches sides. Danica takes over the control of Carrera’s operation and Kemp reveals that he works for Danica. Danica arrests Carrera for double-sleeve violation. Protectorate soldiers are slaughtered by Angelfire while they close in on Kovacs, Quell, Trepp, and Kovacs prime.
Episodes 07
“Experiment Perilous”
Quell’s sleeve starts to break down. Kovacs prime is left behind and is retrieved by Danica’s soldiers. Danica is now more focused to capture Quell since Quell seemed to have control over Angelfire. Trepp finds out that her brother Anil found Quell and was infected by the same invader that is hacking Quell’s stack. Danica makes a deal with Jaeger and he recruits Kovacs prime in distrust to help him. Poe and Ms. Dig build a construct and send Quell and Kovacs to VR, unaware that Jaeger and Kovacs prime also sneaks into the construct. Trepp borrows Kovacs body to save TJ and Myka. Jaeger can lure Kovacs prime back on his side and sends him out of the construct, leaving Jaeger stuck inside. Kovacs learns that an elder was borrowing Quell’s body which is why Quell was able to control Angelfire. The elder wanted revenge on the Founders for the massacre of the elder’s children they committed. Quell escapes out of the construct, while Jaeger and the elder are stuck in it. Ms. Dig finds out that she is being tracked and shuts herself down. Jaeger is consumed by the elder who plans to destroy everything since Quell broke her promise.
Episodes 08
“Broken Angels”
Jaeger, consumed by the elder, starts to get materials to control the Orbitals and begins to reorient the nodes for Angelfire. Kovacs believes that the only way to subdue the elder and save Harlan is to hand over Konrad Harlan to the elder so that the elder can complete its mission. However, they find out that Danica had already killed Konrad Harlan and destroyed his stack along with all the backups. Poe tries to find the convergence point for Angelfire but keeps glitching. Poe realizes that he will have to reboot else he won’t be able to function anymore. However, the reboot is akin to death since he will forget everything. Kovacs plans to offer the broken stack of Konrad Harlan to appease the elder. Quell reveals her backup plan: killing Jaeger and taking the elder, thus enabling her to redirect Angelfire on herself to destroy the elder along with her. When Quell, Kovacs, and Danica approach the elder, Danica double-crosses them and tries to kill the elder to obtain control over Angelfire, but she is killed by the elder instead. Poe’s reboot starts in between the skirmish, disabling him to assist. Quell, Kovacs, and Kovacs prime fight the elder, until Kovacs swaps places while Kovacs prime holds Quell down. Kovacs kills Jaeger, and after allowing the elder to infect him, redirects Angelfire upon himself. Elder and Kovacs experience real death. In the aftermath, Quell and Kovacs prime survive and continue on their paths. Dig, having renamed herself Annabelle, takes over the Nevermore. After three months she is reunited with an amnesiac Poe and it is revealed his final act before rebooting was to back up a DHF, implied to be Kovacs.
- Joel Kinnaman (season 1; flashbacks season 2), Anthony Mackie (season 2) and Ray Chase (Resleeved) as Takeshi “Tak” Kovacs, the last Envoy, of an elite rebel group defeated 250 years prior to the start of the series. Kinnaman also portrays Elias Ryker, a police officer and Ortega’s former lover, whose “sleeve” or body Kovacs inhabits during season 1. Mackie serves as a new host body for Kovacs in season 2.
- James Purefoy as Laurens Bancroft (season 1), one of the wealthiest men alive, who lives in a skyscraper above the clouds and out of the reach of everyday people, ruthlessly powerful and wanting to exert control on those around him
- Martha Higareda as Kristin Ortega (season 1; guest season 2), a smart and tough lieutenant in the Bay City Police Department who comes from a religious Mexican American family of cops
- Chris Conner as Edgar Poe (seasons 1–2), an artificial intelligence (AI) that takes the likeness of Edgar Allan Poe and runs the hotel that serves as Kovacs’ base of operations in Bay City
- Dichen Lachman (season 1; guest season 2) and Elizabeth Maxwell (Resleeved) as Reileen Kawahara / Gina, Kovacs’ sister, who shared his violent childhood, who joined the Envoys at the same time as he did, and apparently perished when the uprising was put down
- Ato Essandoh as Vernon Elliot (season 1; guest season 2), a former Protectorate marine whose wife was imprisoned and daughter murdered
- Kristin Lehman as Miriam Bancroft and Naomi Bancroft (season 1), Laurens’ wife who has her own motivations, and their daughter who steals her mother’s sleeve. Lehman said she was “really intrigued and challenged” to play the character of Miriam, considering it different from her other work. Her background as a dancer helped her prepare for the role. Of the character’s sexuality, “She has commodified her sexuality and I was interested in exploring that side of the character.”[15]
- Trieu Tran as Mister Leung / Ghostwalker (season 1), a killer and “fixer” who kills and solves problems for a mysterious employer
- Renée Elise Goldsberry as Quellcrist “Quell” Falconer (née Nadia Makita) (seasons 1–2), a master strategist and scientist, the creator of Stacks and leader of the Envoys. She was seemingly killed when the rebellion was put down, additionally appearing in Kovacs’ flashbacks and hallucinations
- Lela Loren as Danica Harlan (season 2), the governor of Harlan’s World and the daughter of its founder, Konrad Harlan
- Simone Missick as Trepp, a bounty hunter (season 2)
- Dina Shihabi as Dig 301 (season 2), an AI archaeologue who befriends Poe
- Torben Liebrecht as Jaeger / Ivan Carrera (season 2), Kovacs’ commanding officer in the CTAC Praetorian and surrogate father, later the leader of an elite fighting force called The Wedge operating on Harlan’s World. Daniel Bernhardt portrays the character’s previous sleeve in a recurring capacity in seasons 1–2.
Development
Netflix ordered the series in January 2016, fifteen years after Laeta Kalogridis optioned the novel with the intent of making a feature film. According to Kalogridis, the complex nature of the novel and its R-rated material meant that it was a tough sell for studios before Netflix ordered the series. The show was one of a number of dramas commissioned in short order by Netflix, which had committed to spending $5 billion on original content.
Kalogridis wrote the script and served as executive producer and showrunner. Steve Blackman served as co-showrunner. David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross of Skydance Television also served as producers, as well as Brad Fischer and James Vanderbilt of Kalogridis’ Mythology Entertainment. Miguel Sapochnik directed the pilot episode. Morgan served as a consultant during the show’s production.
The series was reportedly the most expensive Netflix production to date. The production costs were not disclosed but Kinnaman said it had “bigger budget than the first three seasons of Game of Thrones”.
Ann Foley served as costume designer. The production crew fitted about 2,000 costumers and custom made at least 500 pieces for the show, and emphasized “grounded” looks for future fashion but figured in specific details, such as a unique palette for Meth characters and subtle costume changes when different people are inhabiting the same sleeve.
The series is produced in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Laurens Bancroft’s gardens was filmed in University of British Columbia Rose Garden and the lobby of the Marine Building served as Bancroft’s home. The old Canada Post building was used as the location of The Wei Clinic, where Kovacs was tortured. Scenes with the Envoys were filmed on the Sea to Sky Gondola suspension bridge, in Squamish. Other Vancouver locations include the Convention Centre’s West Building, the visitor centre at VanDusen Botanical Garden, the UBC Museum of Anthropology and The Qube.
The series contains references to several earlier cyberpunk classics, such as Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell, as well as several literary works, such as the stories of Edgar Allan Poe.
Altered Carbon was renewed for a second season in July 2018. Anthony Mackie took over the lead role of Takeshi Kovacs, replacing the first season lead star Joel Kinnaman. Additionally, Alison Schapker joined the series as co-showrunner alongside Laeta Kalogridis. On May 23, 2019, it was announced that Schapker would be the primary showrunner for the series, replacing Laeta Kalogridis who is still credited as an executive producer.
On August 26, 2020, Netflix canceled the series after two seasons. The decision had been made in April and was not related to COVID-19, but a result of the standard process used by Netflix to calculate the viewership versus the renewal costs.
- E01 – “Phantom Lady”
- E02 – “Payment Deferred”
- E03 – “Nightmare Alley”
- E04 – “Shadow of a Doubt”
- E05 – “I Wake up Screaming”
- E06 – “Bury Me Dead”
- E07 – “Experiment Perilous”
- E08 – “Broken Angels”