Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime series comes to Netflix in 2022

Are you having fun playing Cyberpunk 2077, the dystopian sci-fi video game adventure starring Keanu Reeves? Well… no. No one is. It’s not out, yet, and we keep hearing about more delays. But the buzz is still there, and still palpable. In fact, it’s only stoked by the release of a new trailer as part of developer CD Projekt Red’s big Twitch stream. And the developer is hoping this buzz — despite no one having played it — can ride them through a new development in the world of Cyberpunk 2077: An original Netflix anime series.

Netflix on Thursday revealed that a new anime series, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, will be coming to the streaming service in 2022. The anime, which is being made by Japanese animation house Studio Trigger, is set in the same universe as CD Projekt Red’s upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 video game.

“Night City is about to explode. In 2022, CYBERPUNK: EDGERUNNERS, an original anime series by @trigger_inc, tells an all-new story set in @CDPROJEKTRED’s #Cyberpunk2077 universe,” Netflix tweeted on Thursday.

Check out an overview:

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners tells a standalone, 10-episode story about a street kid trying to survive in a technology and body modification-obsessed city of the future. Having everything to lose, he chooses to stay alive by becoming an edgerunner—a mercenary outlaw also known as a cyberpunk.

CD Projekt RED, the company behind the Cyberpunk 2077 video game, is producing the series, with a creative team formed of talent from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Cyberpunk 2077. The team at CD Projekt RED has been working on this new series since 2018.

Acclaimed Japan-based animation company, Studio Trigger, will serve as the animation studio on the series and bring the world of Cyberpunk to life with their signature, vibrant style. Hiroyuki Imaishi (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, Promare) will direct the series along with assistant director Masahiko Otsuka (Gurren Lagann, Promare), creative director Hiromi Wakabayashi (Kill la Kill), character designers Yoh Yoshinari (Little Witch Academia, BNA: Brand New Animal) and Yuto Kaneko (Little Witch Academia), and the adapted screenplay by Yoshiki Usa (SSSS.GRIDMAN, Promare) and Masahiko Otsuka (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, Promare).

The original score will be composed by Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill series).

“We are so excited to finally reveal that we are working on an anime in the Cyberpunk world,” said Cyberpunk 2077 game director and CD Projekt RED head of studio Adam Badowski in a press release. “We’ve devoured just about all the cyberpunk fiction there is to watch, read, and play; it’s a genre that leaves so much room for creativity, and has had such a strong influence on us. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is our love letter to cyberpunk as a whole, and to stories told in animated form.”

Studio Trigger CEO Masahiko Otsuka added, “We at Trigger are thrilled to work with CD PROJEKT RED to create a brand-new story set in the world of the highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077. It’s a huge challenge to adapt this universe into an anime, but we are eager to face it head-on.”

And Studio Trigger director Hiroyuki Imaishi noted, “I’ve always loved cyberpunk as a genre, but always found it difficult to create as an original work. This is why I’m very excited to be working with CD Projekt RED on this project. It won’t be easy to please both game and anime fans, but I love a challenge, and I’m looking forward to the production. We’ll do our best to meet and exceed expectations.”

Check out the announcement trailer: