Altered Carbon Has Been CANCELLED... Here's The REAL Reason Why! 

Season 1 was a masterpiece. I don’t even remember if I finished season 2 or not.

i think the main difference between the first 2 seasons was keeping consistent with takeshi's personality, i felt kinnaman was a bit more poised and collected the way he spoke and carried himself while S2 takeshi was a bit more impulsive and it didn't really fit with Takeshi's character

Yes "the color of the sleave shouldn't really matter" but that should be the same underlying character. No matter what body is being occupied. However the Kovac from second season is just not the Kovac from the first one. He does not have any skills that Envoy had (being shot in the back in first episode like a naive idiot), and his approach to the world is completely different. That was the core issue.

The biggest mistake of this series is replacing Kinnaman. They could've gotten a higher rating in season 2 if they stick to the main character and made a way to keep the story going.

The cancellation didn't make me ask "why?". The second season did. I agree it's really difficult to fit in a completely different main actor, both for the actor and writers as well as the viewers, but that's not what killed season 2 for me. It was just written like super generic mainstream stuff.

Let's be real, he may be a much more well known actor, but Mackie had some huge shoes to fill after Kinnamon in s1

Season 1 is just a piece of art. Kinnaman was the perfect fit, tall, imposing handsome brute yet so poised and collected. Like a trained soldier. He looked the part. Season 2 was a TOTAL DEVIATION from takashi's original character. Just did not fit. The aesthetics were off and so was the behavior.

Definitely agree that It’s not the The lead is different in.S2, it’s that he made no effort to mirror the personality established by Kinnaman. It went from a very Noir detective personality to literally feeling like I was watching Falcon in an attempt at a Cyberpunk show. Mackie strikes me as a guy who has a persona and that’s what you will get, not really acting. Also S2 seems to lose some of the feel of the universe they created and plays out a lot more like standard action fare with a Sci Fi cover. S1 I could easily watch episodes until I was too tired to keep watching but it took me several days to finally finish ep1 of S2 and each subsequent episode is never finished in one setting. Hell, I’ve had an episode paused for over 20 minutes while I mess around on RU-vid and write this…lol …I’m revisiting S2 as I never finished it when it first came on.

One of the most appealing aspects of the show to me was that the main character could have multiple portrayals and change in different ways. It had the capacity to become an American Cyberpunk Dr. Who… such a waste to cancel it after one shaky season…

While I don't think Kovacs casting as a black character was done to appease a 'woke' crowd I do think the only reason Anthony Mackie got the role was because of his fame from the MCU. They could have cast the new Kovacs better.

I think the brother-sister relationship was more attaching compared to boyfriend-girlfriend one. And kinnman replacement was the obvious reason

If Kinnerman had stayed on it would have worked, Netflix really screwed the Pooch on this and not only this one

Season 1 was and is perhaps the best show i have ever seen, just perfect.

I just binged both seasons...yes season 2 isn't as great though I wouldn't call it completely horrible. But I'm sad that there's no season 3 I feel they could of corrected their errors.

Season 1 was unbelievable.

Nothing is impossible, and I still have hopes for season 3 and the comeback of Joel Kinnaman.

I am so tired of shows getting high reviews from critics if the main actor is a minority. There is NO way any critic can give season 2 a higher rating than season 1.

Although Kinnamon's mannerisms would always be hard to emulate, Anthony Mackie did a fine job. However, it was hard not to see him as an Avenger. Season 2 probably would have worked better with a more abrasive, lesser known actor.

Man i just want a season 3, it's a fun show and its such a shame bc theres not a lot of cyberpunk series out there. If there is some i wanna find it but ugh

When joel spoke as takeshi you can feel his hesitations and know he is always absorbing information. As someone already said, mackie is too impulsive as takeshi theowing off his character

It's a pity to know the series is cancelled. Season 1 is such a blast and great production, combining a number of nice science fiction elements like "Ghost-in-the-Shell", AI and Matrix. Though Season 2 isn't as great but there's always hiccups just like Star Trek Discovery, the Season 2 also sucks. Hopefully, one day, could get Altered Carbon Season 3 coming back.

2:00 Thank you! People that haven't read the books don't understand that he always switches bodys throughout the years. He's not gonna be Elias Ryker forever, get over it.

Season 1 was one a incredible cyberpunk/SF show, did not even got through ep 1 of season 2 and never got back to it.

They changed genres between seasons. Season 1 was a pure scifi detective story, and season 2 wasn't really anything specific. It had lots of action, there was something of a history being revealed, but it was kind of vague. I've read the first two novels written by the author, and the first book was pretty close to the first season of the show, but the second novel didn't grab me, it just wasn't as interesting a story as the first one. I think the second season had the same problem. No issue with Mackie taking over, although he probably could have done the character more stoic, instead of having a little smile in nearly every scene. He was playing a fairly serious character with a Japanese cultural background, after all.

Still can't believe that they canceled this show. One of the best shows I ever watched. I really hope they reconsider season 3.

I need Season 3 for Altered Carbons pleaseeeeeeeeeee. I just finished binge watching 2 seasons and their Journey are not finished yet. The ending brought soooo much hope that poe actually managed to store a raw human DHF and ended up being downloaded and it just demanding a continuation. We need the 1st season main guy to return though. I dig his persona and his charming us compared to Anthony Mackie.

It’s common for movies and shows to take different routes from the novels they’re adapted from, which they should have done for this one. I get that they wanted to stay accurate to the novels but what they don’t realize is that switching Takeshi between bodies isn’t a problem in books because there’s no consistent visual of him. In a movie adaptation, we are consistently seeing the characters, which is why character consistency is so important. In books you focus more on the words, in cinema you connect to BOTH the words and the visuals. They could have made season 2 such a hit if they kept Joel and made Takeshi DEVELOP into a better person with the same face instead of throwing us into a completely new actor. We started being connected and comfortable with Joel’s Takeshi but then in season 2 it’s like who’s this person that we’ve never seen and don’t care about? He claims to be Takeshi but acts and feels completely different. ANOTHER thing is that Takeshi tried so hard to keep the sleeve of Ryker for the sake of Kristin and that was such a deep emotional thing for Takeshi to do because it showed that he cared. But then they completely throw that small detail away and suddenly switch him into a new sleeve and ur just there like ‘then what even was the point?’ What made Joel so important was that he was Kristin’s lover, which made Takeshi and Kristin connected. When they switched him into a new sleeve, Mackie, the connection is gone because Kristin has nothing to do with Mackie’s sleeve.

Season one was a hit with the audience despite the critics score. Season 2 tried to appease the critics and lost the audience. Anthony mickeys performance just didn’t work, he is too recognized which blurred my perception of Kovac. If they had used a less know actor who was good enough maybe I could have been more invested even with the story going off the rails. the side characters were uninteresting and didn’t make me feel invested.

I don't think replacing Kinnaman was a guaranteed death for the show. Doctor Who and Bond are just 2 examples of things which have done the same thing forever and proved it works just fine if you do it right. The setup to change actor was done fine, it was a clean break, a completed story and it made complete sense that he would not be in the same body in season 2. I'd also say his ending and send off was more than satisfactory. The problem is Mackie did a terrible job. It doesn't matter if you're in another body, you're still gonna have the same mannerisms, expressions etc but the way Mackie talks, how he carries himself, his tells, his facial expressions are all entirely different. If he had made an effort to study Kinnaman it may have worked out, but ultimately I just think he was a bad choice to pull it off. Not once in season 1 was the transitions between Will Yun Lee and Kinnaman ever jarring. I completely believed they were the same character from start to finish. I hate to say it but Mackie was riding the MCU wave and is black, those are without doubt the reasons he was cast. It's a shame to see a great show killed by wokeness like many others. Hell... Will Yun Lee isn't white. Why couldn't they just write a way to get his original body back into the ending. That would've made for an amazing season two, ticks their diversity boxes and we know he'll do a great job.

Season 2 wasn't as great as the season 1, but it was still really enjoyable!

The biggest mistake was making the second season, as the first one was such perfection. It was easily one if not the most immersive depiction of scifi/cyberpunk in my mind at least. Just finished re-watching the first season and it was even more beautiful than I originally thought.

Man, this sucks so much. I watched the first season and loved it. Now I just started season 2 and am finding out the series is canceled. Altered Carbon has such a great cyberpunkish universe and lore, I cant believe they are just throwing it away...

I know I’ve finished season 2 and I even enjoyed it, but it was nowhere near the phenomenal god-tier I would have considered the first season. I wouldn’t say though that I didn’t like it as much because of the actor change as I like both actors, it only made sense considering the underlying lore of the world it’s set in regarding DHF and switching Sleeves. That being said, after a full season getting to know Kovacs through Kinnaman, Makey didn’t feel like Kovacs. His behavior just didn’t seem to match. Bigger for me I’d say the plot itself from the first season was just so much more enjoyable. Big part of that was the mystery behind Kovacs that the viewers learn as they watch. Which the second season, you kind of already know everything important about his past. [SPOILER] Maybe if the end of the first season with his sister being responsible for everything was replaced with a ‘middle-man” of sorts getting caught, that could’ve allowed for the sister arc to be drawn out into the second season and could have made that better. I wouldn’t actually prefer this though, because I still think the first season was perfect and I wouldn’t change that.

I tried binging both seasons but could only binge the first, the second one while good is just unremarkable and not rememberable. I finished it but didn't feel any of the feelings I felt at the end of the first season.

The Takeshi of season 1 was a master envoy. The Takeshi of season 2 was a man who woke up on the wrong side of the bed every episode. The characters did not match.

I have a feeling The Witcher is gonna suffer the same fate, given that Cavill is leaving the show... and Netflix has a knack of canceling potential shows due to their even slightest disappointing viewership!!

Didn't even finish the 1st episode in S2. S1 was a masterpiece and end of the story.

All they have to do is have a T resleave in a clone of himself

Sufferings dur to prolonged lifespan is one of the main point of the show ... Joel felt like he suffered for 2 centuries ... .. Mackie felt like he suffered due to local gang war grudge...

First season was amazing. Second season was ok, but the plot advanced too slow so the middle was a struggle. I think they could have moved the plot faster to make it more engaging.

First episode was Oscar. First season was good. The second season was..........

Season 1 i have watched twice, season 2 i barely finished. Joel Kinaman carried the SH I T out of Season 1.

The fact that narrator of that video has no idea on how to pronounce Kovacs name tells me he's never read or watched the series.

It was about the portrayal of the characters. When you see Kinnaman playing Kovacs there MIGHT have been one or two moments where you aren't convinced that he's some broken super soldier who lost everything and doesn't care about the world he found himself in, with the sole exception that it's what Quell would have wanted him to do. Mackie, I actually never saw that with him at all. His portrayal was collected and less dark. And if thr MC comes off as less than what made them great before, there's a problem. Altered carbon is a cyberpunk universe. That means that your MC had better go through some super trauma and come out looking like he did. Mackie never sold me on that, Mackies portrayal cared too much for things that Kovacs wouldn't care for.

Why does this guy mispronounce so many different names?

Having just finished season 1, it's downright criminal the show was cancelled. Kinnaman was amazing, and first season as a whole was one of the best sci-fi ever. Utterly unique Cyberpunk show that is awesome from start to finish is a rarity, and cancellation is beyond stupid. Granted, maybe season 2 is meh, but I've yet to see that. But how many downright bad shows continued for years on end, it really makes Altered Carbon a very sad case.

Netflix canceled quite a few shows that fans have enjoyed and wanted more of. We are in an era where it will be rare for a series to get more than 2 or 3 seasons

Well if there was going to be a Season 3, I would like to see Hiroyuki Sanada play as Takeshi Kovacs.

Cancelled? It finished. And after that, we got another season for no valid reason.

God I miss this show. I loved the first season but second season felt weird and it sucks that such an amazing universe didn't get a chance to fully shine. I really think Altered Carbon could have been great. I really hope it can come back in some way.

I loved Altered Carbon. I would love to see another season someday. Season 1 was better but both were watching.

"One of the most popular science fiction shows in the history of Netflix." Me: "never heard of it, are you sure about that?"

My wife and I enjoyed this show. Sorry it's cancelled. Yes, I definitely think it could be brought back. That's totally up to the corporate powers. 🤨

Joel Kinnaman nailed the character perfectly. He potrayed a strong cold man that lost everything but a broken soul remained. I love the show but it's better to end it rather than mess it up badly.

Mackie sucked was the problem.

It's really a fuck up , how it's typical for these so cold movie series sponsors keep on cancelling tremendously good series -how about ceasing with the business if all they do is stopping at the climatic point of individuals getting hooked

I have watched season 1 multiple times. Season 2 once. Joel was awesome. Miss this show dearly.

Can say. They also ran out of material. It was based on a trilogy and book, and with season 2 skipping book 2 going straight to season 3 but still taking elements of book 2 it left little source material for a new season

Agree with everyone here , the main problem with S2 ,that guy not Takeshi Kovacs . Both in spirit and personality term . And as far I`ve seen from his movie , Anthony Mackie always be Anthony Mackie . So put it him in this show I think was not quite right decision . Casting non one dimensional kind of actors like Daniel Bruehl -Evan Peters - Michael Ealy or Jamie Foxx would be better addition to this franchise

I just found this series, May 2022. I binged season one and happy to see a season two. So came here to see if a season three was in the making. Now I'm wondering if I'll still want a season three after watching two.

Anthony Mackie is a great actor; but the character of Kovacs was portrayed so completely differently it didn't feel like the same man in a different sleeve. The main woke choice I had a problem with came at the end of Season 1 where the director completely changed the ending from the books (which are fantastic and I highly recommend) to make the female victim into a super woman who saves herself and Kovacs. She didn't do this to make the story better but purely for her own politics - the director admitted she changed it because she didn't like the idea of a man being stronger than a woman or a woman being saved (instead of having the girl-power to save herself, naturally). That admission was enough for me to realise that these Woke Hollywood types are completely happy to butcher the source material if it doesn't match their' politics; regardless of the final quality. And so I had no reason to think it wouldn't continue into subsequent seasons.

I’m so disappointed they cancelled the show. I feel season 2 had just as many twists & turns & of course it makes sense that Harlan already had inhabitants. Some say S2 Takeshi was irrational of course he will be if his soul mate just came back to life but still wants to die that’s heartbreaking … and the 1st season set it up pretty well. I think a part of it whether people want to hear this or not … is that season 2 had majority black cast … people are just bruised they aren’t seeing their white Takeshi. Honestly that S1 Tak is a good actor but his profile is not that interesting. Quell maintained her character through & through. Poe developed tremendously … I like that little wrap up they had with Rei ..

How many different ways can one person possibly pronounce Joel Kinnaman or Takeshi Kovach

Ah yes, I love having someone who's mispronouncing both actors' and characters' names needlessly recount the plot to me before blaming the audience for not liking the second season. Replacing Kinnaman with an actor equally fitting and charismatic would've worked. It's possible to think that Mackie wasn't the best casting choice without making it about race.

I think the mistep was not involving heavy the first season main cast. They could have a new Kovac and have Kinnerman back as the boyfriend cop working with kovacs to get his body back and his girl since he did the same for him. But nope they went of the rail for him to get his new body. I feel like certain show runners at netflix just dont know how to push a good show after the creators originate everything

Season one was possibly one of my all time favorite shows I watched it so many times I've lost track it was just so Immersive. I really wanted to like season 2 and I gave it the benefit of the doubt but couldn't finish i tried if I did finish it don't remember i couldn't even tell you what happened in the first episode its just that forgettable. Not surprised it got canceled and they had everything they needed to make ine of the best si-fi series ever made

Poe was the main reason I needed a season 3

Loved it all. Thanks for the good stories

I think the second season would have been better received if Takeshi Kovach was riding in his birth sleeve the whole time. Personally I loved both seasons not a huge Anthony Mackie fan though..

Well, its hard to fit in the kinnaman-shoes, who did takeshi perfectly. the season 2 takeshi felt quite "half-assed" and was finally saved just in because of the actor for Tak's former-body. and honestly I wasnt able to warm up with the season 2 guy since I watched a lot of marvel-universe-stuff. And I hate it, when main-characters get drastical changes in the way of: "Hey, lets take the actor of the sidekick of Captian America for season 2, even though everyone was happy with Joel!" It makes sense, that Kovacs couldnt keep the body of Elias Ryker. But he would have had the money to make himself a clone of him or at least use his old former body by also cloning it. We know from season 1 that this was possible. But the bitter truth is, neither did the season 2 guy feel like the former one, nor was it a good idea to take a so well known face, which became popular just recently. its simlpy akward to and has abolutely nothing to do with the color of skin or whatever. the audience just doesnt like such big changes and the acting was unfortunaly a real letdown. sorry.

If people read the books before watching the show, I'd say it would've been met with less negativity.

season 2 was kind of disappointing but not because it was that bad it was because season 1 was that good. The story of season 1 left little unanswered and most of the characters have satisfying arcs which left season 2 a little bled out of interesting characters which it unfortunately didnt manage to establish on its own. Poe kinda stole the show in season 2 and as much as i love Poe its not a good sign when you care more about the sidekick ai then the protagonist.

The drop between season 1 and 2 was far worse than westworld

I liked both season 1 and season 2 and would watch a season 3 if they made one.

The maker of this video obviously didn't watch season 1, or at least not while awake. He fails to correctly pronounce Both Envoy and Praetorian/Protectorate (they are different things) or even the main actor's last name, and he cannot even accurately summarize the plot. Tak did not suffer from memory loss. He did not fight his sister on a crashing Protectorate ship. I stopped watching after the two minute mark, which is I guess what the narrator of this video did to the first season of Altered Carbon.

Season one was a masterpiece. Season two was trash, due to the writing, regardless of cast, and all the other excuses mentioned here.

Woulda been great if continued right….the whole show lends itself perfectly to a video game adaptation too…definitely missed opportunities. 😢. But still a Great show…one of my all time favorites!!!!!

I LOVED season 1 but couldn't enjoy season 2. The problem was the writing, directing, and fight choreography shifted into something very different and lacking the same quality and flavor of season 2. That's because the people in charge changed, and with them the goals of the story changed. Each showrunner had a different vision of how they wanted to deviate from the book. Too many people out there talking too much about the "actors" messing it up. Well, first let's be clear. It's as if the actor gets to decide to let himself get shot in the back like an armature, as if the actors get to pick whether they do extra twirls and flips in mid air before shooting something, as if the actor gets to pick when they are portrayed as super good at combat and when they are a friggin boob, as if the actor gets to decide to treat their AI like crap. That is all decided by writers and directors. Obviously. And then some people insist on talking about the color of actors as the problem, as if there aren't actors of every color with every accent, or as if the story doesn't lend itself to a variety of ethnic groups. It's totally fine if you didnt like any specific actor's work, but it's not their color that was the issue, it was the person themselves. Do I think they could have varied the cast more across the color spectrum? Sure, the balance in the first season was much better IMO as they had more of a mix across the board. BUT I have a similar complaint about most shows and it's never been the reason I end up enjoying or not enjoying a show. And if that one thing, color of actors, makes so big of a difference for you that it can make or break a show, I'd say you should ask yourself if you're either too racist or too woke to accept the reality that a show is made up of a lot of different things and actor color doesn't make or break it. Anyway I'm sad to see how it played out. I suspect I will keep re-watching season one once a year, and never bother with season 2 again. Peace everyone, stay blessed.

Neftlix :does shitty job Also Netflix :surprised that people aren't as excited Also also neftlix: see we told you people don't like it, let's axe it. They could have laid on this gold mine for years, people would have come back 5 years later for a slice of this magnificent pie. I would have anyways. Few issues : 1) neftlixs business model aka numbers first 2) they blew the entire story of the book on s01 and didn't know where to go from there that's why s02 story doesn't go anywhere plus they rushed it out the door to bank on the buzz 3) they missed an opportunity to give a leading role to a lesser known actor 3b) they teased a clone of his original sleeve for nothing 3c) fucking with consistency 4) reviving unnecessary characters in convaluted ways 5) the budget thing, they used sets from s01 again and again in non interesting ways, made the visuals repetitive and boring 6)mackey is either not that good of an actor or they didn't give him enough to work with messing with character consistency AGAIN, but just by watching season one he should have gotten the gist, he maybe tried to make Covacs his own, I dunno, 4/10 mackey performance. All in all season two left a bitter taste in my soul... whatever I still vaguely remember from it anyway. I can't remember any specifics but I know I need a shower just from thinking abou it. I hope they get their shit together or sell the IP to someone who does it some justice. The possibilities were endless and yet these absolute thickheads managed to mess up sci-fi!

I like Anthony Mackie, but yeah, when it came to the character it's really, really hard to top Joel and Will.

Does anyone know if Netflix owns the rights. "Amazon, the cancelation kings cancelled this series haha".

And we can't even buy the 1st two seasons on Blu-ray. I agree about Netflix becoming too woke!

Not going to lie, the ending of season 2 leaves you hanging on a cliff. Really pissed that I watched all of that and was ready for season 3 to come out when I find it has been canceled

Anthony Mackie was the reason. For ruining Season 2

Never finished season 2. It just seemed so damn cheap compared to season 1. Lots of close ups in vague backgrounds and parks in Canada. It went from huge blockbuster to straight to DVD look.

Will there be season 3?

2nd season Tak's personality is completely different. He just didn't have the charisma.

Mackey did not have Kinnimans edge. It was decent, but they’re just not the same Kovacs

At this time, in wondering if will ever get a physical release of the first season.

Once Elon Musk perfected Neuralink, we will all be living in a world like Alter Carbon where we can download our subconscious mind in a Neuralink disk and upload it to Tesla bot

Rei fatuation with her brother is not a normal one. It's borderline incest but very much a obsession of sorts

this was my favorite TV show ever made and i'm angry that we don't get another. Season 1 was beyond fantastic season 2 ehh not so much but something is better than nothing

season 1 and 2 both just insane , masterpiece, my favourite series

really bad that they cancelled it based on how many total views they though they would get! That is the wrong mentality. It was cyber punk that means that mainly cyber punk enthusiasts will watch it which is not as many as some other genera. However what they failed to consider is that the shows viewers thought it was so good they would pay extra just to watch a season 3. They should have done some market research.. I would pay a premium fee to watch a season 3 in a heartbeat!

Anthony Mackie just was not a believable Takeshi Kovacs. They could have given him a clone of his original Sleeve instead, in the first season Joel Kinnaman did a great of portraying the same man (from the backflashes) in a different body. This might have been believable the other way round, too.

Some stars burn hotter than others and die early.

Best show Netflix has made in my opinion, canceling this show was a massive mistake. I think if they would have kept going this would have had a cult following

I loved this series just watched both seasons and find out there’s no season 3 😫😫

Kovacs is pronounced kovach. Like the ch in choose. Much like Takeshi I find this extremely annoying the first book literally spends like a paragraph explaining the pronunciation.

They shouldn't replaced Joel kinnaman....his character was just perfect for the role... season 2.. .. they new actor couldn't recreate the same atmosphere... results lack of credibility...results people loose interest...I was waiting for kinnaman's return on season 3... but never happens