Cyberpunk Edgerunners Season 2 preview: greatest binge watch of your life

When you create a smash-hit like Season 1 of Cyberpunk Edgerunners , returning for a second outing was never going to be easy.

Setting the bar so high you’ll need top-shelf cybernetics to make that leap — but with Edgerunners Season 2, Studio Trigger yet again proves why it stands alone as master animators of high-octane action that is as visually stunning as it is visceral.

The story itself will be familiar in theme and setting to fans of Edgerunner's first outing, but the series is more of an anthology than direct follow-ons to what came before.

The events of the first season are referenced — David is a known Night City legend by characters in the show — but don’t expect to see any follow-ups on Lucy or other stories.

Instead Edgerunners gives us a whole new cast — focused on budding videographer Roman, the chrome-obsessed renegade Talia, cyberpsychosis-survivor King, and revenge-fuelled netrunner D — whose individual stories cross and diverge as the events of Season 2 unfold. (Image credit: Netflix / CDPR) Don’t worry, things are easy to follow, and the plots develop at an excellent pace — keeping you engaged while also making sure characters aren’t abandoned for longer than you want.

To some extent, you *could* start here considering the disconnect to Season 1, but (1) you’ll be missing out on a phenomenal season of animated TV, and (2) while the characters don’t make a return, the world of Cyberpunk and Night City and its factions do.

More generally, Season 2 is fuelled by the same themes as its predecessor, and there are familiarities between the new cast and Maine’s crew.

There’s naivety and dreams of a different world to what exists, grizzled veterans and long-standing grudges between factions, and a looming sense of inevitable tragedy that seems to eventually catch up with everyone in Night City.

The context of Season 1 will help you better appreciate Season 2, even if it isn’t necessarily required reading (though required or not, you’re depriving yourself if you skip it). (Image credit: Netflix / CDPR) I’m aiming to keep things spoiler-lite for this preview, so I’ll cut myself off here before I get into more specific plot details and shift gear to the animation.

Simply put: it’s sublime.

Studio Trigger is well known for its dazzling action — delivering artistically beautiful scenes of violence, but also graphically gory fight scenes that make it clear you never want to be on the wrong side of a gunfight.

Each combat encounter is unique too, with Studio Trigger finding ways to keep its action constantly feeling fresh rather than just repetitive brawls and shootouts, thanks to engaging set pieces and aesthetic flashes that make every gory execution different from the last.