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CD Projekt Red turned down Cyberpunk: Edgerunners studio’s lore-breaking suggestions: “Can we destroy Night City?”
CD Projekt Red worked with Cyberpunk: Edgerunners animation studio Studio Trigger to fit the anime’s ideas into Cyberpunk 2077’s established lore. The show’s team said it tries to find ways to develop ideas rather than reject them outright, but preserving the setting’s continuity limits what can happen.
Showrunner Bartosz Sztybor said Trigger repeatedly asked whether it could destroy Arasaka and Night City, including during early work on season two; the team declined those lore-breaking proposals. The new season returns to Night City with washed-up cyberpunk legend Weak and nomad D, whose pursuit of revenge brings him close to corporate secrets. A related quest and dual-wielding weapons were added in a Cyberpunk 2077 update, and Sztybor says a third season would require a suitable story.
In short
- CD Projekt Red drew a line at destroying Night City.
- Studio Trigger pushed to destroy Arasaka in season two.
- The team says a third season needs the right story.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Protecting Night City and Arasaka’s place in the established setting helps preserve continuity across the game and anime, making the world feel coherent to returning fans. Keeping those institutions intact can also leave room for future stories to explore their power and the characters living under it.
The case against
Allowing the anime to destroy Night City or Arasaka could give its creators greater freedom to deliver a bold, consequential story rather than work around existing canon. A major change might also make the adaptation feel more distinctive and show that the setting can evolve through new media.
Explained simply
Cyberpunk 2077 is a role-playing video game set in Night City, a sprawling future metropolis dominated by powerful corporations. Arasaka is one of those corporations, and its influence is central to the city’s conflicts.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is an animated series set in the same fictional world. Its creators developed the show with CD Projekt Red, the game’s maker, so the series’ events and ideas would fit the setting’s established history.
That shared continuity matters because changes to major places or organisations could affect the world across both the game and the series. The new season follows Weak, a fallen cyberpunk legend, and nomad D as revenge draws them towards corporate secrets.
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