We sat down with Bartosz Sztybor, the showrunner, writer, and producer for Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2, who explained the ending of the anime’s second season and why it’s so tonally different from the first.
Warning: Major spoilers for Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2 below!
If you’re a Cyberpunk fan, you’re likely well-acquainted with the genre’s tragic overtones. This version of the future — a version toward which we seem to be hurtling faster and faster — isn’t a happy one, and it’s no surprise; with corpo technocrats stepping on the throats of world governments and the quality of life steadily decreasing in spite of massive technological advancements, it’s difficult to find a bright spot in the grimy worlds of Neo Tokyo, futuristic Chiba, and of course, Night City.
This was reflected perfectly in the heart-wrenching conclusion of Edgerunners’ first season, where basically everybody died and only one person got a ‘good’ — if heart-breakingly bittersweet — ending. When Edgerunners 2 was revealed, almost everyone anticipated another tear-jerking tale that would leave them feeling hollow at the end… but they couldn’t have been more wrong.
In a blessed turn of events, most of our main characters in Edgerunners 2 get a ‘happy’ ending of sorts. It’s definitely a stark turn from what most viewers expected, and I had to ask Sztybor why the team went in this direction when it’s a 180 from the groundwork that was previously laid in Season 1.
“Cyberpunk originated from noir, and in noir, there is always a character versus the city," he explained. "The main point is that you’ll never win with the city or the system. Even for me, Season 1 is not an obvious bad ending. For me, it is somehow, a happy ending. I think in the reality of pop culture we're living in, where those happy endings that we get in a lot of movies are super sweet, and ‘they lived happily ever after’ and all that, makes us think that all the endings from Cyberpunk or Edgerunners are bad endings, but maybe they are not.
“‘You are not destroying the bad corporation in the end.’ Yeah, well, that's not realistic, but you saved yourself, or managed to be who you are until the end, or you made this one choice, or you sacrificed for someone who you loved. And this is also somehow a happy ending, because you managed to stay true to your character until the very end. So I think, yes, it is a tragedy, but I think both noir and Cyberpunk are just trying to, I don't know, show us what real life is."
Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2 is out now exclusively on Netflix. You can read our review here, where we scored it a 9 out of 10, saying it “delivers the gory, action-packed goods, even if it doesn’t quite hit the highs of its predecessor.” You can also check out our previous interview with Bartosz Sztybor, who explained why we don't actually get to see that much about Roman's personal life in this season.
Returning to Cyberpunk 2077 or playing it for the first time? We’ve got a new and improved Cyberpunk interactive map to help you find every mission, Iconic item, and collectible in the game. Plus, we’ve also got a full walkthrough for the base game, a Phantom Liberty walkthrough, and an overview of all the Cyberpunk 2077 endings so you don’t make a choice you regret. And we can’t ignore the various romance options you can smooch, which also impact how V’s story concludes.