Netflix has decided not to renew the mind-bending, body-swapping sci-fi series Altered Carbon for a third season.
Season 2 of the futuristic thriller, starring Anthony Mackie, premiered on February 27 and was preceded by an anime film on March 19.
Netflix’s decision to cancel future seasons, according to my sources, was made in April and is unrelated to COVID, but arises from the streamer’s routine audience vs. cost renewal assessment process. (Due to COVID-related issues, Netflix just canceled two previously scheduled programs, The Society and I Am Not OK With This.)
Laeta Kalogridis created Altered Carbon, which is based on English novelist Richard K. Morgan’s 2002 novel of the same name. Its two-season Netflix run (plus a movie) mirrors the Wachowskis’ Sense8, another boundary-pushing sci-fi show.
Altered Carbon’s plot
Takeshi Kovacs (Mackie), the lone surviving soldier of a troop of elite interplanetary warriors, continued his centuries-old mission to rescue his lost love Quellcrist Falconer (Renée Elise Goldsberry) in Season 2 of Altered Carbon, which began 30 years after the epic finale of Season 1.
Mackie takes over as Takeshi from Joel Kinnaman, who played the lead in Kalogridis’ first season. Season 2’s showrunner was Alison Schapker.
Skydance Television produced Altered Carbon. Netflix also boasts the long-running comedy Grace and Frankie, as well as a Jane Lynch/Cyndi Lauper comedy that has been gaining traction. Skydance is also responsible for the smash Netflix blockbuster The Old Guard.
Another Life, which has been extended for a second season, and the newcomer Away are among Netflix’s sci-fi offerings.
