Altered Carbon's body‑swapping premise could have supported a long run

Movieweb reports that Netflix's cyberpunk series Altered Carbon had a premise that could have allowed it to run for decades like Doctor Who, but the show was canceled after two seasons.

The series' central idea—human consciousness backed up to a storage device called a stack and resleeved into new bodies—meant the lead character, Takeshi Kovacs, could be recast without breaking the narrative. Joel Kinnaman, Will Yun Lee and Anthony Mackie all portrayed Kovacs across the show's run, and the recasting is explicitly acknowledged on screen. Season 1 closely adapted Richard K. Morgan's first novel, while Season 2 pursued largely original material and did not perform as well, after which Netflix pulled the plug.

Altered Carbon ran on Netflix from 2018 to 2020 and is based on Morgan's book trilogy. The story's separation of identity from a consistent face, the outlet says, could have supported a semi-anthological format with new actors as Kovacs for additional seasons, though it would likely still have fallen short of Doctor Who's longevity.

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Culture, Altered Carbon, Netflix, Takeshi Kovacs, Joel Kinnaman, Anthony Mackie