Things We Saw Today: Watch the Trailer for Altered Carbon Season 2 and Please Watch Altered Carbon

Recently I was talking to the only other person I know who loves Altered Carbon, and we were trying to figure out why the slick, trippy, violent, and fascinating cyberpunk Netflix show didn’t seem to make a big splash in pop culture.

I mean this was cool-looking, but what?

We agreed that the marketing around season 1 was confusing and, perhaps, unappetizing. Posters blanketed NYC showing bodies that appeared to be freeze-dried. (The latest poster featured above, with Anthony Mackie’s face a crumbling edifice, is, uh, also odd). All in all, it’s difficult to explain what Altered Carbon is about, since it takes place in a distant tech-drenched future where a person’s consciousness can be downloaded into a new body, and people seem to fight a whole lot, and a sentient A.I. hotel themed after Edgar Allan Poe became the coolest character of the lot. At least in this future the filthy rich are still consistently and reliably awful!

But the show itself is great. Altered Carbon is based on the books by Richard K. Morgan, and anyone who loves science fiction deserves to give this series a shot; mystery fans will also find a lot to like here. Season 2 is finally almost upon us, and instead of Suicide Squad’s Joel Kinnaman as soldier-turned-private investigator Takeshi Kovacs, we have the love of your life and mine, Steve Rogers’ choice to be Captain America, one Mr. Anthony Mackie. I cannot wait to see Mackie in action as Kovacs’ new “sleeve” and where he should always be, which is in the leading role.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MzbLQBeR9Y&feature=youtu.be

Here’s the official synopsis:

In Altered Carbon, society is transformed by new technology: consciousness can be digitized; human bodies are interchangeable; death is no longer permanent.

Season Two begins 30 years after the epic conclusion of Season One, and finds Takeshi Kovacs (Anthony Mackie), the lone surviving soldier of a group of elite interstellar warriors, continuing his centuries old quest to find his lost love Quellcrist Falconer (Renée Elise Goldsberry). After decades of planet-hopping and searching the galaxy, Kovacs is 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 (Chris Conner), Kovacs must now partner with new allies to outwit his enemies and find the truth: Who is Quellcrist Falconer?

Also exciting is that we’ll see some sort of reunion with the incredible revolutionary (or is she???) Quellcrist Falconer (Renée Elise Goldsberry—that’s Angelica Schuyler to you), and Poe (Chris Conner) returns!!! How??? I don’t care! In a world of clones, re-sleeved consciousness, and rich people who live forever, I can have my A.I. friend restored.

Altered Carbon season 2 hits Netflix on February 27th, 2020. Watch it! Tell your friends! Tell your enemies!

(image: Netflix)

What else did we spy with our little eyes?

• “Trump’s latest rally stunts are designed to get you to surrender” (via WaPo)
• See more

  “They’re addressing a problem that just

  does

  exist.”

  South Dakota was on the brink of passing a bill that would do reprehensible harm to trans & non-binary kids, and several states are now on the same path.

  Here’s what’s really at stake for trans & non-binary youth. pic.twitter.com/PQjYfIocQ9

  — Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) February 11, 2020

• A new movie adaptation of Porgy & Bess? (via Deadline)
• Rian Johnson called The Rise of Skywalker “a really special experience” (via Comicbookmovie)
• See more

  here’s margaret atwood riding an electric scooter pic.twitter.com/N9EzBNwiGK

  — Hannah Jane Parkinson (@ladyhaja) February 10, 2020

What did you see today?

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Kaila Hale-Stern

Kaila Hale-Stern (she/her) is a content director, editor, and writer who has been working in digital media for more than fifteen years. She started at TMS in 2016. She loves to write about TV—especially science fiction, fantasy, and mystery shows—and movies, with an emphasis on Marvel. Talk to her about fandom, queer representation, and Captain Kirk. Kaila has written for io9, Gizmodo, New York Magazine, The Awl, Wired, Cosmopolitan, and once published a Harlequin novel you'll never find.

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