Hell Yeah, ‘Cyberpunk: Edgerunners II' is Happening
At the show's AnimeExpo panel on Friday, returning showrunner Bartoz Sztybor and season one voice actors Zac Aguilar (David Martinez) and Emi Lo (Lucy Kushinada) revealed the new season with a tantalizing poster made by Trigger character designer Ichigo Kanno. The new series is said to be standalone—sorry, season one fans, Sztybor and the trailer itself very much confirm original Edgerunners protagonist David is still dead—and will provide 'a raw chronicle of redemption and revenge' across its 10-episode run.
The logline for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners II asks, 'When the world is blinded by spectacle, what extremes do you have to go to make your story matter?' The original centered on David's transformation into an Edgerunner after surviving a drive-by shooting and gets a powerful spinal implant. Along with critical acclaim for its writing and animation, it's been remembered for its pretty brutal ending, which left David and nearly every other main character dead by the end of their adventure. But if you thought that was bad, Sztybor teased things would get even worse for this new set of characters.
'I just wanted to make the whole world sad,' he said during Friday's panel. 'When people are sad, I'm a bit happy. This new season will be, of course, sadder, but it will be also darker, more bloody, and more raw.' Edgerunners II will be directed by Kai Ikarashi, who helmed the original's sixth episode 'Girl on Fire' and previously worked on Delicious in Dungeon and Mob Psycho 100.
No word on when Cyberpunk: Edgerunners II will arrive, but luckily, there's some stuff to tide you over. There's a manga prequel all about supporting character Rebecca, and the show's co-protagonist Lucy joins Guilty Gear Strive later this summer. And if you've been holding out for a Blu-Ray for season one, it's coming October 28, with pre-orders opening August 26.
💥Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is in production! 💥
It presents a new standalone 10-episode story from the world of Cyberpunk 2077— a raw chronicle of redemption and revenge.
❓When the world is blinded by spectacle, what extremes do you have to go to make your story matter? 👀… pic.twitter.com/jTMA89N1zK
— Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (@edgerunners) July 4, 2025Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gizmodo
an hour ago
- Gizmodo
Love Is in the Air in The New ‘Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc' Trailer
If you've been hankering for some Chainsaw Man in anime form, MAPPA is taking the shonen anime to theaters with the upcoming Reze Arc movie. During this weekend's festivities at Anime Expo, the studio unleashed a new trailer show how much love, death, and caranage await Denji and the gang in September. Set after the anime's first season, things kick off with Denji's boss Makima finally agreeing to go on a date with him. Just as he's reeling from getting to achieve another facet of normal life, a second girl by the name of Reze arrives and hits his heart. The more he hangs out with Reze, the more Denji finds himself conflicted about which girl he's crazy for, or if there's room for both of them in his heart. But this is Chainsaw Man, and that means Denji can't ever get a break. Not only was Reze lying about her intentions, she's actually the Bomb Devil, and wants him to join her side by any means necessary, which soon puts all of Tokyo in danger. This new trailer spends some more time showing Denji's thoughts on the two objects of his affection and his individual dates with them both, which involve subtly manipulating his teenage heart. And once Reze shows up in her Devil form, all hell breaks loose as Denji takes to the sky to fight his crush and his fellow Hunters Aki and Angel enter the fray. Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc hits theaters in Japan on September 19, then internationally on September 24 before hitting the US on October 29. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Golden' Moment: How ‘KPop Demon Hunters' Created the Year's Catchiest Soundtrack
It was a night K-Pop fans around the world wouldn't forget: Superstar groups Huntrix and Saja Boys would go head to head at this year's International Idol Awards. There was only one catch: the International Idol Awards aren't real — and neither are those groups. Both groups can be seen in Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters, a slick animated feature that chronicles the adventures of Huntrix, a girl group comprised of three members who just happen to also fight monsters from the underworld. While the film has become the streamers latest surprise hit, even more surprising is the fact that its soundtrack has taken the real-world internet, and music charts, by storm. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Mozart Mozart': New Series Puts Composer's Forgotten Sister Center Stage (Exclusive Trailer) Foo Fighters Are Back With First Song Since 2023 to Celebrate 30th Anniversary What the Hell Happened With the Sean "Diddy" Combs Verdict? Directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, Demon Hunters follows Huntrix members Rumi, Mira and Zoey as they perform undeniably catchy K-pop tracks by day and battle demons by night. The girls spend the film facing off against a newly-formed boy band Saja Boys, a group of secret demons who are using their popularity to steal souls. The musical fantasy film features a slew of K-pop tracks for their fictional groups, and now the soundtrack has hit number 8 on the Billboard 200 chart, and produced two entries on Billboard's Hot 100 (Saja Boy's 'Your Idol' at No. 77 and Huntrix's 'Golden' at No. 81). KPop Demon Hunter's executive music producer Ian Eisendrath says the film plans to submit Huntrix's 'Golden' as their awards song. Saja Boys, who were inspired by K-pop groups like Tomorrow X Together, BTS, Stray Kids, ATEEZ, BigBang and Monsta X, just surpassed BTS as the highest charting K-pop boy group on Spotify's daily global chart by hitting No. 2 (BTS' 2020 single 'Dynamite' hit No. 3, although members of the group have hit the top spot as soloists). Eisendrath says always knew the project was special, but says he'd 'hoped for like 2% of the reception that we've had.' Eisendrath spoke with THR about how the music came together and why the songs have found mainstream success. What has the response to been like? It's been so gratifying and so thrilling. I've always believed in these songs and what we've accomplished as a real community of music makers, and I've been so honored to work with these K-pop hitmakers. I always was [saying] this was going to be special. This is going to be amazing. But I'd hoped for like two percent of the reception that we've had, so it's mind boggling. We've all been at this and done a ton of films and theater and all these narrative, music-driven genres, but this has always been my dream. To work on something that everyone responds really emotionally and strongly to — the story and characters — but beyond that these songs are beloved as songs themselves. That was our goal from day one, and that was a really steep ask because it's so easy for it to teeter one way or the other. In [some] films, there's some really great character narrative songs, which completely work for the film and work for a fan base, but don't quite have the universal pop reception. Then there's a lot of films that have great pop songs, but they don't necessarily serve the film or the characters. I think it's the alchemy of these two worlds coming together, cinema and K-pop, that [makes it] just so gratifying to see people embracing it. A real moment for us was when Twice was brought on board and wanted to sing one of these songs. Everyone is creating something that one of the biggest K-pop groups believes is something worth recording. You have a big musical theater background. I think there's a strong crossover between K-pop and musical theater. How does that work into it? A thousand percent, and I've been saying that since day one. When Sony called and offered me this job, it was amazing. I've always felt like K-pop is probably the most theatrical, dramatic genre of music today. If you think about just the density even of what a K-pop song is… In each of these songs, we have hundreds of layers of vocals. The tracks are dense, everything is high drama, high energy, and that just lends itself so beautifully to filling the theatrical space. Film songs generally have to be even more high energy, even more multilayered to really pop. What was cool with this genre is you didn't have to force it. It's just there. I've always been interested in what if K-pop songs did have a little more story and a little more content to the lyrics? I have to think that in addition to the incredible music side of it, that these lyrics seem to be hitting deep with people because there is such density and depth to what is being said without getting in the way of it. We wanted to have drops. These songs are not overwhelming [with] 10,000 words coming at you at a mile a minute. When you're tackling a project like this one, it's pretty easy to pick out the inspiration for songs coming from a certain type of K-pop because it's so varied. A great thing about it, like theater, is that the whole thing needs to not be the same sound over and over and over again. Did you say 'we want one of this kind of song or that kind of song'? Hundred percent. I spent a great deal of time with the directors, who have an incredible vision for [the] characters, story and tone, and the music has such a deep impact on that, that the first step was temping in other songs into the storyboards. That was a way to find the real energy. Everything started not as an original song, but with various songs, temped in. We like that tempo, we like that pulse, we like that style. Then when we would launch the various songwriters on these songs, we would give them a list of references, and we'd be like, 'Oh, we love how this bridge feels because of these specific details.' Once we passed it off to songwriters and started working with them, there was no attempt to mimic or copy what is there, but it helped us speak the same language, and then obviously our film has its own voice and musical language. But absolutely, the incredible K-pop groups out there and variety of music impacted how we developed these songs. It has to be the only way you can tackle something as large in scope as K-pop. What was so cool — I don't think everyone will totally know — is that Spring Aspers, the president of music at Sony, she put together this stable of artists. This was a film made by a musical community, as opposed to one or two people. There was so much crossover in that one person would be like, oh my gosh, we love that production, let's now throw this to another person to work on a top line. Let's bring these three people together to work on lyric. There was just all these crazy collaborations and crossover that I really think is the key to the film's success. It's real alchemy. This was just unique because we started with people steeped in writing in this genre and then brought them over to the film side. Hearing you talk about the collaboration between artists, one thing that came across in both the film and songs is that everyone involved seems to deeply care about K-pop. People can see K-pop as something they can, for lack of a better term, cash in on without really understanding it. But seems to understand it. That was the mission from day one, which started from top down leadership. We wanted to go to the people that have lived this music. I think that was what was so exciting, and I learned so much from all of them. There was a real desire and so much energy spent on featuring, uplifting and authenticating this genre of music by having the real music makers from this genre create [the music]. It was so thrilling. We had so many meetings with The Black Label [Teddy Park]. It was humbling and cool. [For the] recording sessions, we did vocals in Korea, we did vocals in L.A., we did vocals in New York — dozens and dozens of hours with each individual singer. I would record everyone isolated on their own. Even that was a cool process, continuing to stack and add people and then end up with this incredible sound and alchemy. That's also something unique about this: for a lot of pop songs there's a lead vocal and that same lead vocalist is doing all their background vocals. For this film, the Saja Boys have five members. They're all doing their lead, and they're all singing backup vocals. It's just a rich texture. I have to throw some real credit to EJAE Kim, who I really feel like helped develop the sound of Huntrix … in terms of the vocals. She and I co-arranged the vocals, but my goal was to really build and realize her incredibly unique and innate language and musical style. Obviously, the response to the film and music has been great but do you have any other hopes for this project? I want K-pop — not that it hasn't already — but I want it to crossover to everyone. I love that it's going way beyond the fans. I want that to continue. I want to see more films made this way. I want to see more musicals. I feel like this film has shown people that you can actually create a musical that speaks to the pop music culture and the universal audience at large. I also want to see all these artists that have created [on this film] embraced. I want to mention our vocalists, the singers. We had Audrey Nuna, EJAE Kim and Rei Ami [as Huntrix]. I want to see them explode as singers. Each of our Saja Boys: Andrew Choi, Neckwav, Samuil [Lee], Kevin Woo and Danny Chung. All the songwriters — Steven Kirk, Jenna Andrews, Lindgren, The Black Label, EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick… That'd be my dream, to just see all of them blow up and for it all to win a bunch of awards. That's the hope, right? Yeah. I'm really excited about 'Golden' being the song that is going to be the awards song. I responded to it with deep emotion and joy as it was being built, as did the directors. We had five to six songs written for that slot, and we just kept going until it was the right energy. The directors are tough customers, in the best possible way, and they had a real vision for what this needed to be. We just kept on launching songs, trying different writers and figuring out how to make this song accomplish so much. And I think you'll understand this, [like] in theater, it was their 'I want' song. ['Golden'] was an 'I want' that … had to do a ton of exposition and backstory. And it absolutely had to be not an approximation of, but a legit K-pop hit single. I think that was probably the most challenging song [because we had to] have all of those things align. It's really gratifying to see it embraced so much. I think that melody that appears in the pre-chorus and the end of the chorus is so beautiful, and the production from The Black Label just makes me smile every time. Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Kun on Latest Single 'Deadman' and His Next Chapter: 'It's Really Just the Beginning'
It only takes a moment with Kun – the 26-year-old singer-songwriter who rose to fame on China's Idol Producer – to feel like long-lost friends. The boy group member turned singer-songwriter is quick to jump into conversation about his seemingly favorite topic – making music. There's plenty to talk about. His latest single, 'Deadman,' was released a month ago. The soulful track's release was accompanied by a cinematic music video, which the 26-year-old was deeply involved in creating. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Cinema Jazireh': An Afghan Woman Looking for a Loved One Must Transform Herself (KVIFF Trailer) 'Broken Voices' Is Inspired by a Girls' Choir Sexual Abuse Scandal Long Before #MeToo Kelly Clarkson Postpones Opening Night of Las Vegas Residency Shortly Before Showtime Fresh off a somewhat-surprise performance of the song song at 88Rising's Head in the Clouds festival last month, Kun sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about making deadman, his love for music and what's next in his 'new journey.' Can you tell me more about your latest single 'Deadman?' Well, I'm very, very happy because this track was made last year, so it was a year [until the time] when people could actually hear it. I heard it a thousand times already, so now people actually are hearing it and a lot of them are surprised. I think they'd [say], 'Oh, I didn't know Kun's voice was like this now.' But I was just doing my thing over the past year. I would just keep cooking music in the studio. That's what I love. I like to focus on it, and I made a lot of demos. But 'Deadman' is definitely the one I loved, so I'm very happy. Finally, I put out this track. Something about this track has the vintage sound that I've never made before, and [there's] the contrast between the vintage and the modern thing. I think it's very interesting, so I really wanted people to hear it. It does have an nostalgic feeling to it. It feels like you've heard it before, in a good way, not a reptetitve way. Tell me about the process making songs? There's no reference, to be honest. We have the guitar player [and the] piano players. I just tell them, 'Hey, let's do this groove.' I would just start giving a groove, a tempo, we set up a vibe. I start [to] freestyle, just easy. No reference. I'll tell them, 'Hey, I want to do something like old school, but not too old.' Does that make sense? I like soulful stuff. I listen to a lot of classic jazz, soul and R&B. They know what I like. I like Prince. I like Elvis. They all know that. My friends, we make music together, so when I start free-styling, they just know. They'll tell me, 'This is the line.' We're just chilling. We're just playing. Do you have a favorite part of releasing this single? Definitely the music video. There's a lot of crazy stories behind the music video. Look at his face, look his face. It is like, we shot it in Montenegro. It's a very beautiful place. I was there for a week, a whole week. I learned the choreography there, and I learned fighting. I learned dance. We set up the rig. It was kind of crazy, and the schedule was very tight. We had to move to different locations, and I couldn't even sleep at night, so I was posting [to my Instagram] story that I was just sitting on the sofa like, 'I hope this will be good, I hope everything will be fine.' My friends were always asking me, 'What's going on? Why are you not sleeping? It's supposed to be very late right now, right?' It wasn't an easy one. Definitely. But I'm very thankful for all the people that worked on this project. It's not an easy one. It's kind of like a movie shoot. That is impressive, especially given the scale. I wanted to make this character. He's dying over and over again because of the things he loves, so he's bleeding all the time, very painful. Always rocking with the guitar like today is the last day, today's the end. This is going to be the last song I sing to the world. That's the direction we went for, and that's the first line I said to everybody. 'Hey, I want to write a song. It sounds stupid, but what if I die tomorrow? Today is the last track I'm going to play.' That's how we got 'Deadman.' It sounds like you're very, very creatively involved in everything you do. What is that so important to you as an artist? I'm just a creative guy. I like to learn new things. I like to create new stuff, like cool shit, but in my own way, I don't want to be anybody [else]. I just want to be myself, right? I just want to sound like myself. I just want to do my own thing. I'm the guy that's always [improving] myself. I always hate the old me. It is like, 'Why did I [do] this shit?' [There's] nothing bad about it. I just want to be better all the time. You get what I mean? That's just my personality, so I just like to beat myself. Essentially, for you, your only competition is yourself? Exactly. Can you tell me a bit about Head in the Clouds and what it was like performing there? This time I really just came here to support. [I wasn't] playing a set. I only have one new track out. I want to play the new songs. I don't want to play the old songs. We can probably play [them] next time, like a new set, maybe in New York. But this time I was mostly just here to show people the new music, what it sounds like. I wanted to show the audience in America, let them hear the new track. And also connect with my fans. I love the crowds. What is it like performing in the U.S. for you? Do you enjoy it? Do you find it a little different? I think it's different. It's very cool. It's my first time [doing a festival]. In China, we have a lot of festivals too, but [I] never really go to [them]. I was only doing [my own] concerts, so this is the first time. I just really did something I haven't done before. I'm just very happy. I'm really enjoyed it. We didn't even have a lot of time to prepare [with] rehearsals. I just went on the stage and tried it. I didn't even know what mic I was going to use. I didn't even know who was going to give me my in-ears and everything. It's a funny story. I was actually fixing the mic stand when I was singing the high notes. Somebody didn't tighten it, so it was just going up and down. I'm trying to fix it, but I'm also singing the high notes. It's kind of crazy, but there's a lot of stories people don't know. Do you want to perform more in the U.S.? We will. We will. I feel like we're just starting. Starting from 'Deadman,' everything is just new. [I'm] starting a new journey, so It's really just the beginning. Head in the Clouds, it's fun. It's a good start. It's helping a lot of Asian artists. That's something I respect. There's not a lot of labels [or] festivals that's helping Asian artists. That's amazing. That's something very cool. What is like to be able to perform at a festival like that? It's a very good experience for me. When I'm singing, everything just kind of tunes out. I just focus on the track. I just want to put out the message I want. I just want to show people, 'Hey, this is the new sound.' In the past, we just spent too much time in the studio. I spent too much time in studio. And I know that my fans [have been] waiting for too long. I feel a little sorry. I always say that. I feel sorry sometimes they don't see me that much. I don't even post a lot… That's just me. I'm not an internet guy. I'm not a social [media] guy. That's just not me. I just like to focus on my thing. Sometimes I feel sorry to my fans, so this time when they asked me to play [the] festival, they said, 'Can you play a set?' I said maybe next time, but I can show up. I can come to support. I'd like to because I love Head in the Clouds. I love the vibe. Best of The Hollywood Reporter From 'Party in the U.S.A.' to 'Born in the U.S.A.': 20 of America's Most Patriotic (and Un-Patriotic) Musical Offerings Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025
