Stream of the Day
‘Edgerunners 2’ uncovers cyberpunk truths
A new Netflix anime follows a nomad hacker whose clan’s destruction leads him towards dangerous corporate secrets, writes JASON BANNIER.
Four years after Netflix’s award-winning Cyberpunk: Edgerunners expanded the dystopian universe of the videogame Cyberpunk 2077, the spinoff returns with a new story and characters.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is streaming exclusively on Netflix from today (20 October 2026).
CD Projekt Red’s 2020 open-world game is based on Mike Pondsmith’s Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop game. Both the videogame and anime take place in Night City, where corporations, gangs and cybernetic modification shape daily life.
Edgerunners told an original story about a street kid named David who becomes a mercenary rather than adapting the game’s campaign. The approach exceeded CD Projekt Red’s expectations, reaching the Netflix Top 10 in 19 countries during the premiere week in September 2022.
Edgerunners 2 leaves David’s crew behind and introduces D, a nomad hacker seeking revenge against the killer who wiped out his clan. Working as a netrunner, a hacker who infiltrates computer systems, D uncovers a trail of corporate secrets never meant to be found.
His pursuit becomes entangled with Weak, a veteran mercenary once known as King. Weak must rebuild his life without chrome, the cybernetic implants that helped make him a Night City legend.
A young filmmaker in the show sees Night City differently: through the lens of a camera. Roman Carax wants to capture the truth in a society that has abandoned film for braindance, technology that recreates recorded sensations.
Family tensions emerge through Talia, who grew up in corporate towers before falling into the grip of the chrome-obsessed Maelstrom gang. Her mother, Avida, left a career as a singer and corporate insider to marry a Kang Tao executive.
Nazeeh Tarsha voices D in the English dub, alongside Clancy Brown as Weak, Valeria Rodriguez as Roman and Kimoy Lee as Talia. Their Japanese counterparts are Koki Uchiyama, Kentaro Tone, Momoka Terasawa and Akari Kito, respectively, with Akemi Okamura voicing Avida.
Kai Ikarashi directs Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, with Kanno Ichigo serving as lead character designer. Returning writers Bartosz Sztybor and Masahiko Otsuka shape the new Night City chapter.
* Jason Bannier is a data analyst at World Wide Worx and deputy editor of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Bluesky at @jas2bann.
