Posted in: Netflix, TV | Tagged: amazon, CD Projekt Red, cyberpunk, cyberpunk 2077, hulu, netflix, prime video
Cyberpunk 2077 Needs A Dystopian Netflix Series Adaptation
With the popularity of cult classics and franchises like Blade Runner and Shadowrun, the dystopian cyberpunk genre has somewhat struggled to find a more mainstream audience. That's not to say there haven't been attempts to conceptualize its ideas to television like the Wachowskis Sense8, Black Mirror, and Altered Carbon, the interest in its concepts will probably remain relevant as long as humanity learns to a cyborg future as we more organically integrate technology onto ourselves. That being said with Netflix still investing in the genre, it wouldn't be far-fetched to see CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 become their next futuristic TV phenomenon.
How Cyberpunk 2077 Worldbuilding Could Translate to TV
Let's look at how just from how the game is set up. You can have three main characters with diverse backgrounds with nomad, streetkid, and corpo. The TV series can borrow several elements from the game with their fixers, explore the greater arc of Johnny Silverhand's gripe with Arasaka Corporation while tackling the familiar themes of escapism, identity, and existentialism. Given the sandbox the CD Projekt Red has to offer, it could take place at any time during the universe. I have no doubt Keanu Reeves would even offer to reprise his role since the model is based on the actor himself. Even as a fourth-wall break, the series could poke fun at its own bugs in the "system".
The structure should allow the series to expand beyond the main character of V with those of different backgrounds to share as focus. At the very least, it can dive into the world of Night City and its subcultures it explores and demonstrates how not everything is as it seems. The world of Cyberpunk 2077 opens so many possibilities to the dystopian fantasy genre that can go to so many different places in terms of depth. Shows like Altered Carbon and Black Mirror have already shown us the way as far as how it can be executed. Let's get to it, gonks!