Netflix's anime series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is returning with a second season that takes a markedly different creative direction, according to new series director Kai Ikarashi in an interview with Polygon. Rather than continuing the story of protagonist David Martinez, whose rise and tragic fall defined the acclaimed 2022 original, Edgerunners 2 introduces a new lead character and reworks the show's visual and musical language, reflecting its structure as an anthology rather than a straightforward sequel.

The new season centres on Weak, played by Clancy Brown, a once-legendary "edgerunner" who must now survive in the dystopian Night City without any cybernetic enhancements, inverting the original's story of an unknown rising to fame. Ikarashi, who previously worked as storyboard artist and animation director on the acclaimed season one episode "Girl on Fire", is using light as an oppressive rather than hopeful visual motif, while composer Tsuneo Imahori, known for Trigun and Hajime no Ippo, provides a new score that Ikarashi says actively shapes the animation rather than merely accompanying it.