15 Hopes for Altered Carbon Season 2

Altered Carbon is my latest obsession. If you haven’t seen it, you need to make it the next thing you binge on Netflix. Also, you’ll want to stop reading this now because this list contains spoilers!

While we don’t have a season two yet, it doesn’t mean we can’t start brainstorming for what we’d like to see happen when we finally get one. And we better get one. I’m completely hooked.

Here are the top 15 things we hope will happen in Altered Carbon Season 2:

1. Kovacs Gets a New Sleeve

While I love Joel Kinnaman (and I really do), Season 2 should definitely shake things up in the sleeve department.

What’s the point of having stacks if you don’t mix things up? Let someone else shine as Kovacs. It would allow us to get to know another face, and see if a new sleeve changes Kovacs in any way.

Plus, Altered Carbon Season 1 ends with Ryker getting out of prison and Kovacs agreeing to give him his sleeve back. So, if Kinnaman was back as Kovacs in Season 2, then that means that Kovacs went back on his word, which doesn’t sound like him.

The only way Kinnamon could be back as Kovacs is if we pick up in Season 2 immediately after the events of Season 1, which…

2. Time Jump

…I’d rather not happen.

When we leave Kovacs at the end of Season 1, he’s got to be mourning the loss of his sister. Let’s not spend time with a mopey Kovacs. No one wants that.

His search for Quellcrist will most likely put him in an emotional state, so we don’t need to add mourning on top of that. Speaking of his search, if we pick up immediately where we leave off, then Kovacs has no idea where to start looking for Quellcrist. It’s not like Reileen left him any clues

So, let’s take a small time jump (nothing drastic).

3. A New City

It’s been fun, Bay City.

Along with a time jump, Season 2 should feature a brand new location. Perhaps maybe something a bit more rural or simply a smaller city — the bottom line is we’ll need a change of pace.

Exploring a new location will continue to build the world, and it will be fascinating. It’ll be great to watch Kovacs find his place somewhere new, perhaps living in a normal house or apartment with neighbors.

There’s so much world to explore, and so it’s time to say goodbye to Bay City.

4. Less Time with the Meths

A new location should come with a focus on a different class of people.

We spend a lot of time with the meths during Season 1, and the season ends with the darkness of living forever and the dangers of having ultimate power being revealed. We see it corrupt Reileen, as well as Laurens and Miriam Bancroft.

It seems like the show has said what it needs to say about meths.

In Season 2, let’s see how someone else lives. Let’s spend more time with the grounders.

5. A New Crew

A new quest and a new city (or cities) calls for a new crew. It’s time to shake it up.

Odds are everyone Kovacs associated with in Bay City won’t want to uproot their lives and join him on this personal quest to find the woman he loved. It wouldn’t make sense.

Quellcrist: The true strength of the wolf isn’t fangs, speed, and skill. It’s the pack! Whatever world you needlecast into, build a pack. Find ways to inspire loyalty in a few capable locals, even if many of them will ultimately be expendable. We are Envoys! And we take what is offered.

Kovacs will need to assemble a new group of allies to help him out in whatever jams he finds himself in while looking for Quellcrist. He’s a likable guy. I’m sure he’ll have no problems making friends.

Kovacs shouldn’t forget everyone he met in Bay City or anything, but he needs to let them live their lives and find new partners in crime.

6. Checking in

This doesn’t mean that Kovacs has to abandon all the friends he made in Bay City. He can still keep tabs on them.

Kovacs and Kristin grew close over the course of Season 1. Even though Kovacs leaves her to put her life back together with Ryker, it would be sweet to see him check in on her during Season 2.

This could be a phone call or something more anonymous, to where maybe even Kristin doesn’t even know Kovacs is doing it. Likewise, Kristin should definitely check up on him for both professional and personal reasons.

7. Poe’s Alive!

Everyone needs an AI on their side, so while Kovacs should be looking for new people to align himself with, he has to take Poe along for the ride. It’s not like Poe’s death was permanent, right?

I know it looks bad, but Poe can definitely shrug off his untimely demise.

Poe’s a smart AI. He definitely had a backup or something, maybe he’s just no longer tethered to The Raven Hotel. Look, I have no idea how it would work, but Poe needs to be in Season 2.

I need him in my life.

8. Lizzie Kicking Ass

After everything she went through, I find it hard to believe that Lizzie will be okay with resuming her normal life. She’s already refused to change out of her synthetic sleeve.

Kovacs: Lizzie kept the synth. When anyone asks her why she says, “Because it’s not real,” and she doesn’t know if she is either.

Maybe she goes out on her own, kicking ass and taking names, and somewhere along the way, her path crosses with Kovacs’. This would be a fun little reunion, and Lizzie would be able to update Kovacs on what’s been going on in Bay City since he left.

Also, Kovacs could definitely use her fighting skills. He tends to find himself in a bad situation at least once a day.

9. More Dichen Lachman

Okay, yes, Reileen is stack dead. There’s no question about it. Her backups are corrupted, so the Reileen we meet in Bay City is gone forever.

Thank goodness there are still flashbacks and Kovacs’ hallucinations that we can work with.

Dichen Lachman absolutely shines in this role, and it would be a shame to lose her. There is still so much to explore about Reileen, and seeing as how Kovacs is going on a quest to find out where she hid Quellcrist, the door is open for some flashbacks.

The flashbacks could take place leading up to her decision to blow up the ship at Stronghold, her time hiding Quell and setting up her empire, or her time with the Yakuza. There are so many options.

Let’s explore them, please.

10. Quellcrist

Kovacs’ quest has to have a happy ending!

He needs to find Quellcrist and make sure she’s doing okay. It’s unclear whether Reileen simply hid her stack or if she provided Quell with a sleeve and a new life.

Maybe the season could be less about finding Quell and more about what happens once they are reunited. The time jump could take us right to the moment when Kovacs finds Quell, and then the second season could kick off from there.

11. Envoys vs. Protectorate

During Season 1, we learn about Kovacs’ introduction to Quellcrist and his decision to team up with the Envoys to take down the Protectorate. Back then, that mission failed, but perhaps this war could be re-ignited once Kovacs finds Quellcrist?

It’s doubtful that the fire has been burned out of Quellcrist. She still going to want things to change.

Season 1 also focuses on the topic of Resolution 653 — spinning murder victims back up, so they can testify against their murderers. Including social issues like 653 is a great way to take a broader look at the world and to step away from whatever Kovacs is investigating.

Season 2 will need a new cause, a new social issue. Perhaps instead of starting from scratch, the fight against the Protectorate could resume.

12. The History of Stacks

Stacks are a huge part of the world Altered Carbon inhabits, and yet we still don’t know that much about them.

Quellcrist reveals that she’s actually the person who invented the stack, so maybe we can get some flashbacks to learning how stacks came to be, and how society embraced them early on.

There’s so much history to explore. Season 2 needs to continue to expand and develop the world.

13. The Backpack

There’s something about a badass fighter and grown man carrying around a pink, “Hello unicorn” backpack that’s just absolutely hilarious. Kovacs needs to continue to carry this around next season.

It has to happen for no other reason than it’s amusing. Where else is he going to store all his weapons?

14. Badass Fight Scenes

There are some absolutely amazing fight scenes in Season 1. Reileen and all of her clones vs. Ortega, for instance, is a masterpiece.

Hopefully, Season 2 will continue the trend of top-notch fight scenes. It’s not like Kovacs is going to be a model citizen when we catch up with him. That ship has sailed, like a long, long time ago.

It’s going to be hard to top these fight scenes, but we believe in you, Altered Carbon.

15. That There’s A Season 2!

I mean obviously, the biggest hope of all is that there is a Season 2. It’s not a sure thing yet.

As this list touches on, there’s so much more to explore in this world. So, come on Netflix! Give the people what they want!

—

What would you like to see if there’s a second season of Altered Carbon? Share your hopes in the comments below!

Altered Carbon Season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix.

Follow us on Twitter @telltaleTV_

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!