Takeshi Kovacs returns with a new face in Altered Carbon season 2, and we’ve put together a complete cast and character guide for the second outing of the Netflix series. Picking up thirty years after the events of season 1 and taking place on Takeshi’s home planet of Harlan’s World, Altered Carbon season 2 is packed with new characters - as well as some old characters with new faces.
Adapted for TV by Laeta Kalogridis from the novels by Richard K. Morgan, Altered Carbon is set in a future where humans have used technology to defeat death itself. When they are one year old, all humans have a disk called a “stack” installed into the top of their spines, where their mind and memories are stored. If a person is killed, their stack can simply be removed and put into a new body, or “sleeve.” The show’s protagonist, Takeshi Kovacs (played by Joel Kinnaman in season 1, and Anthony Mackie in season 2) was once part of a resistance group who believed that immortality has a corrupting effect on humanity, and wanted to restore the natural balance of life and death.
In Altered Carbon season 2, Takeshi is seeking his former lover and the founder of the resistance, Quellcrist Falconer (Renée Elise Goldsberry), who has somehow returned after being presumed dead for almost 300 years. Along the way he makes some new friends - and enemies as well. Here’s our guide to the cast and characters of Altered Carbon season 2.
Anthony Mackie as Takeshi Kovacs
At the end of Altered Carbon season 1, Takeshi was rewarded by having his criminal record cleared and being given enough money to start a new life for himself. However, he also learned that Quell’s stack had survived and was still out there in the universe somewhere. After returning his borrowed body he has gone through a series of different looks, but ends up wearing an elite combat sleeve with some very cool tricks, including enhanced reflexes and rapid healing. Mackie is best known for playing Sam Wilson a.k.a. Falcon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Renée Elise Goldsberry as Quellcrist Falconer
Quell was the original inventor of stacks, using recovered alien technology to gift humans with potentially eternal life. She came to regret what she had wrought and led a resistance against the newly-established order. Quell was believed to have been killed in an attack on Stronghold, the resistance base on the colony planet of Harlan’s World… but it looks like she’s back. Goldsberry recently starred in the critically-acclaimed drama Waves.
Simone Missick as Trepp
A bounty hunter who wears a synth body and has some very useful cybernetic implants in her head called coils. Trepp is hired to track down Takeshi Kovacs for a job, but ends up becoming reluctantly entwined in his search for Quell. Despite her tough exterior, Trepp has strong attachments to her loved ones and values their lives above any paycheck. Missick is best known for playing Misty Knight in the Marvel series Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders.
Chris Conner as Poe
Poe is an AI based on the appearance and personality of Edgar Allan Poe, who ran a themed hotel called The Raven Hotel in Bay City. He came close to being killed at the end of season 1, and in season 2 suffers from severe glitches that cause memory loss. Takeshi has been carrying around Poe’s emitter with him for thirty years, with Poe aiding in the search for Quell. Conner is best known for playing journalist Jeffrey Toobin in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story.
Torben Liebrecht as Colonel Ivan Carrera
The leader of an elite fighting force called The Wedge, Colonel Carrera is on Harlan’s World to assist in a war between the government and a group of Quellists. His motivations are at odds with those of the planet’s leader, Danica Harlan, who wants to safeguard the precious resources of Harlan’s World from the Protectorate. Carrera shares a significant history with Takeshi, and is determined to hunt him down. Liebrecht starred alongside Ben Kingsley and Oscar Isaac in the 2018 historical drama Operation Finale.
Altered Carbon Season 2 Supporting Cast
- Will Yun Lee as Takeshi Kovacs Prime - The original body of Takeshi Kovacs. Lela Loren as Danica Harlan - The current leader of Harlan’s World. Dina Shihabi as Dig 301 - An archeologue AI who volunteers to help Poe. James Saito As Tanaseda Hideki - One of the founders of Harlan’s World, and an old acquaintance of Takeshi’s. Oliver Rice as Stone - Danica Harlan’s right-hand man. Sharon Taylor as Myka - Trepp’s wife, an archeologue-turned-bartender. Orlando Lucas as TJ - Trepp’s son, who has been resleeved after his original body was killed. Michael Shanks as Horace Axley - One of the founders of Harlan’s World, who recruits Takeshi for a protection job. Sen Mitsuji as Tanaseda Yukito - Tanaseda Hideki’s great-grandson. Alessandro Juliani as Jack Soul Brasil - The founder of the Renouncers and the creator of the AI world they inhabit. Matt Ellis as Joshua Kemp - The leader of the Uprising on Harlan’s World. David Cubitt as Dugan - One of the founders of Harlan’s World. Neal McDonough as Konrad Harlan - Danica’s father and one of the founders of Harlan’s World. Jihae as Lounge Singer Kovacs - The sleeve that Takeshi is inhabiting when Trepp finds him on Maghda Prime. Hayley Law as Lizzie Elliot - A traumatized young woman whom Poe helped on her path to recovery. Daniel Bernhardt as Jaeger - The CTAC officer who recruited Takeshi, and later arrested him. Dichen Lichman as Reileen Kawahara - Takeshi’s sister, whom he killed in season 1. Martha Higareda as Kristin Ortega - An officer in the Bay City Police Department. Takeshi was inhabiting the body of her lover, Elias Ryker, in season 1. Ato Essandoh as Vernon Elliot - Lizzie’s father and a former ally of Takeshi’s.
More: Altered Carbon Season 1’s Ending & Twists Explained