According to Altered Carbon showrunner Alison Schapker, the secret weapon of Netflixs cyberpunk sci-fi drama is the most compelling rule of its technocratic world: That souls can transfer bodies. That simple premise allows the series to bring fresh talent to its lead character each season as well as bring other characters back from the dead in myriad ways, not to mention imagining a world where women of color are powerful and in charge. Inclusivity is baked into the DNA of the show and that may be its strongest selling point.

Based on Richard K. Morgans 2002 novel, Altered Carbon imagines a future where a persons brain can be digitized into a portable stack, and then swapped into a new body (or sleeve) to achieve immortality. In only two seasons, the shows militant lead character Takeshi Kovacs has been played by three different actors. Kovacs is the last envoy, a centuries-old interstellar warrior who possesses intuitive powers. The original Kovacs is played by Will Yun Lee, whose stack was transferred into hulking all-American Joel Kinnaman for Season 1. In the second season, Anthony Mackie took up the mantel of the self-serious hero, enlivening a show that can sometimes feel derivative despite having boundless possibilities.

[Editors Note: The following portion of this article contains spoilers for Altered Carbon Season 2, including the ending.]

At the beginning of Season 2, Kovacs is haunted by visions of his long-lost love Quellcrist Falconer (unstoppable force Rene Elise Goldsberry), leader of the peoples revolution. However, he doesnt know if shes alive or simply a figment of his mind. By seasons end, they have rekindled their love and reversed roles, with Kovacs appearing as a voice inside Quells head. That means even if Altered Carbon recasts Kovacs for a potential Season 3, which it most likely will, theres a possibility that Mackie could return in some capacity.

I would always consider it, but the thing about Altered Carbon is nothing is ever shut down, so any of the Kovacs could potentially come back, Schapker said of a potential Mackie return. Even Quell leaves with him as a ghost in her mind, I love that flip. I think its painful to say goodbye to the Kovacs, anyone youve spent the season with, so the short answer is yes. At the same time, part of the challenge of the show is, Whos next? Im totally open to working with Anthony again, and if theres a reason for him to come back, I think he would be into it, too.

Rene Elise Goldsberry in Altered Carbon

Diyah Pera/Netflix

Mackie said he would gladly return to the show, but his reasoning is decidedly less motivated by narrative.

I would love to, I shot this show for five and a half months and I did not have one bad day of work, Mackie told IndieWire by phone. He does have some other concerns, however. If we could shoot it in Montreal or Toronto, I would love to be Takeshi for as long as I could. Theyre just amazing cities. (Season 2 of Altered Carbon shot in Vancouver.)

While the rotating cast allows for so much creative freedom, it also presents a challenge in keeping the audience connected to the throughline of the character. As a television fan herself, Schapker is always conscious of this tension. It is important to me as a fan and as a writer that the Kovacs who is living through the seasons is being carried forward in some way shape or form, she said. I care a lot about pleasure in watching television, so its always that tightrope that as youre challenging people to make new identifications youre also rewarding people for coming back to the show.

Thats part of why she left the ending of Season 2 how she did, with Poe (Chris Conner) making a data copy of a mysterious stack the identity of which wont be unveiled until a potential Season 3. (Netflix has yet to renew the series.)

I really left the chess pieces where I wanted them. I love that Quells out there, I love that Kovacs prime is out there, and I love that Poe made this copy, said Schapker, stopping herself before revealing the copys identity. I guess I have people I wanna bring back, and I have ideas.

Mackie has his own ideas about who the copy might be.

In Season 3, I would love to see Poe bring Takeshi back, he said. But I would love for Poe to bring Takeshi back, and for Takeshi and Kel to go on to stimulate the society that theyve been working for for over 500 years now, and thats giving the common man the power from the government.

As for the possibility of a woman Kovacs? Hundred percent open to that, Schapker said. I think its all on the table.

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Altered Carbon: How Inclusivity Is Hardwired Into the Future of the Netflix Sci-Fi Drama - IndieWire