It took years for Netflix to bring Richard K. Morgan’s novel Altered Carbon, from which the show takes its name, to the small screen. However, in February of 2018, Altered Carbon appeared on Netflix with a 10-episode first season, after its massive first season had been locked and loaded, permitting the series’ team to go all out with sci-fi mayhem. Due to its positive reception, the streaming service promptly renewed Altered Carbon for a second season, just a few months after the first episode premiered. The drama is set in an alternate universe in which people have discovered a means to digitize their consciousness. The second season of Altered Carbon premiered on Netflix in February 2020, and ever since then, viewers have pondered the show’s potential third season.
Altered Carbon Season 3 Renewal Status
Netflix canceled Altered Carbon after two seasons and the animated spinoff movie Resleeved, meaning the third season will not air there. Netflix apparently didn’t have much faith in Altered Carbon season 2 because they only ordered eight episodes instead of the more ambitious ten episodes that they ordered for the first season. The streamer has already canceled The Society and I Am Not OK with This owing to COVID-related issues, but the cancellation of Altered Carbon was supposedly unrelated to the virus.
Since Altered Carbon was one of Netflix’s most expensive shows, its termination didn’t come as much of a shock. The grandiose scale and futuristic setting of Altered Carbon demanded a blockbuster budget. According to Joel Kinnaman, who played the lead role in the first season of Altered Carbon, the show’s budget was “bigger than the first three seasons of Game of Thrones” (The Guardian). Spending like that isn’t sustainable when your fan base is small but devoted. To be financially viable, Netflix would require Altered Carbon to have viewership numbers on par with Stranger Things or The Crown.
Altered Carbon Season 3 Release Date
Altered Carbon will not return for a third season. According to a report in the August 2020 issue of Deadline, the show was terminated by Netflix after two seasons. The streamers reportedly canceled the show because it failed their “viewership vs. cost renewal assessment procedure,” and not because of the pandemic. Despite the lack of recent information, there is a slim chance that Altered Carbon will return for a third season. Alison Schapker, the showrunner and creator of the science fiction series on Netflix, is eager to make a second season.
Altered Carbon Storyline
Richard K. Morgan’s novel serves as the inspiration for Altered Carbon. The story takes place in the future, roughly 300 years from today. A new technological advancement has made the concept of death obsolete in today’s society. With this science, people can alter their bodies and ultimately conquer death. Takeshi Kovacs, a highly trained soldier, is the sole survivor of a catastrophic war, and the protagonist of the novel. Laurens Bancroft is a successful entrepreneur who gives Kovacs the option to swap bodies and start over. Bancroft needs Kovacs because he needs to resolve a murder case, however, the murder case in question is Bancroft’s own.
Altered Carbon Cast and characters
- Joel Kinnaman, Anthony Mackie and Ray Chase as Takeshi “Tak” Kovacs, the last Envoy, of an elite rebel group defeated 250 years prior to the start of the series.
- James Purefoy as Laurens Bancroft, one of the wealthiest men alive, who lives in a skyscraper above the clouds and out of the reach of everyday people.
- Martha Higareda as Kristin Ortega, 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, 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 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, a former Protectorate marine whose wife was imprisoned and daughter murdered
- Kristin Lehman as Miriam Bancroft and Naomi Bancroft, Laurens’ wife who has her own motivations, and their daughter who steals her mother’s sleeve.
- 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), a master strategist and scientist, the creator of Stacks and leader of the Envoys.
- Lela Loren as Danica Harlan, the governor of Harlan’s World and the daughter of its founder, Konrad Harlan
- Simone Missick as Trepp, a bounty hunter
- Dina Shihabi as Dig 301, an AI archaeologue who befriends Poe
- Torben Liebrecht as Jaeger / Ivan Carrera, Kovacs’ commanding officer in the CTAC Praetorian and surrogate father
- Byron Mann as Mercenary Kovacs
- Tamara Taylor as Oumou Prescott
- Marlene Forte as Alazne Ortega
- Tahmoh Penikett as Dimitri
- Matt Frewer as Carnage
- Hiro Kanagawa as Captain Tanaka
- Hayley Law as Lizzie Elliot
- Will Yun Lee as Original Takeshi Kovacs / “Kovacs Prime”
- Adam Busch as Mickey
- Michael Shanks as Horace Axley
- Sen Mitsuji as Tanaseda Yukito
- Waleed Zuaiter as Samir Abboud
- James Saito and Doug Stone (Resleeved) as Tanaseda Hideki
- Neal McDonough as Konrad Harlan
Altered Carbon Season 3 Plotline
In Season 2, when his sister Reileen Kawahara was assassinated in suspicious circumstances, Takeshi Kovacs wore a new sleeve and went in search of his lost love, Quellcrist Falconer. Season 2 begins with Quell actively lobbying The Elder to prevent further human deaths. Without Quell’s knowledge, Takeshi Kovacs and Old Kovacs complete her suicide mission at the end of Season 2, and Takeshi gives his life to save Earth.
It’s conceivable that the third season would pick up right where the second left off. The third season of Altered Carbon could center on Quellcrist Falconer. As a result of Takeshi’s sacrifice, she escaped Harlan’s World after everyone thought she was dead. The third season will focus on Quell’s efforts to liberate Old Kovacs from the Protectorate using her revolutionary outlook and affable personality. What became to Kovacs and his sister Reileen, for example, is only one of several mysteries left hanging by the end of Season 2. Fans of Altered Carbon would be overjoyed to see Anthony Macie return in any capacity in the third season.
Where can I watch Altered Carbon?
Altered Carbon, up to and including Season 2, may be viewed in its entirety on Netflix.
Altered Carbon Season 2 Rating
It’s highly recommended that you check out Altered Carbon. All three seasons of “altered carbon” were critically acclaimed and garnered high viewership numbers. And since it features graphic violence, drug use, s*x, and nudity, Altered Carbon is prohibited for audiences aged 18 and over. The average viewer rating for the show Alternate Carbon is 64%, with a score of 8/10 on IMDb and 75% on Rotten Tomatoes.