Television series

Altered Carbon

Name: Altered Carbon
Genre: Drama, Crime, Science Fiction
Released: 2018
Cast: Renée Elise Goldsberry, Chris Conner, Joel Kinnaman, Martha Higareda, Dichen Lachman

Cyberpunk

A hard-boiled murder mystery wrapped around a genuinely unsettling idea: bodies are disposable, minds are backed up onto discs, and only the rich get to live forever. Joel Kinnaman's resurrected soldier investigates a killing on behalf of the immortal who owns the city, sliding through a neon-lit, morally rotten future. Violent, stylish, occasionally overstuffed - for anyone who wants their noir detective story with real teeth.

TVMaze rating

4.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like cyberpunk noir where the detective work is tangled up with questions about identity, class and who gets to live forever, and you don't mind a show that layers violence and philosophy in equal measure.

Skip it if you want a tidy, self-contained mystery; its plot sprawls across two seasons, leans heavily on flashbacks and gore, and asks you to keep track of a lot of rules about bodies and backups.

What it asks of you: Eighteen episodes of roughly 52 minutes each, so a real commitment; it moves unevenly, with long stretches of brooding talk and sudden bursts of brutal action.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Blade Runner 20492017

Denis Villeneuve's sequel shares Altered Carbon's DNA almost exactly - a rain-soaked future noir, a detective unravelling what makes someone human, production design you could stare at for hours.

But It's slow and meditative where Altered Carbon is pulpy and violent - patience required, and nearly three hours long.

Westworld2016

HBO's puzzle-box series wrestles with consciousness, memory and bodies as disposable hardware, with the same appetite for big philosophical swings hidden inside genre thrills.

But It gets increasingly convoluted across seasons and demands close attention to timelines and twists that don't always pay off.

Black Mirror2011

An anthology obsessed with exactly what happens when technology lets us copy, upload or transfer consciousness - each episode a sharper, different angle on Altered Carbon's core dread.

But Uneven across episodes, and the bleakness can feel repetitive if you binge more than a couple at once.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Altered Carbon

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Metropolis1927

Both build their moral universe around a literal architecture of inequality - who lives at the top, who's crushed at the bottom - and both ask whether new technology will free the poor or just hand the rich another way to outlast everyone else.

Fritz Lang's silent epic invented the vertical city of haves and have-nots, workers crushed beneath a glittering elite - the visual grammar Altered Carbon borrows outright, sleeves and Meths included.

But It's silent, nearly two and a half hours, and its politics are blunt melodrama rather than noir shading.

The Expanse2015

Same scale of political intrigue and class conflict, dressed in harder science fiction - if you liked the world-building and factional scheming, this rewards patience tenfold.

But Slower burn, less noir mystery, more geopolitics - the detective energy of Altered Carbon isn't really here.

Ex Machina2015

A tight, tense chamber piece about consciousness, bodies and who's really in control of the technology, with a similar unease running under every conversation.

But Much smaller scale, no action, and the mystery is philosophical rather than criminal - a different rhythm entirely.

Dark City1998

A genuine cult classic that got there first - amnesiac hero, shape-shifting city, identity as the central mystery, all soaked in the same neo-noir shadow Altered Carbon leans on.

But Dated effects and a slightly clunky script - it's more admired for its ideas than its execution.

Minority Report2002

Spielberg's slick future-noir has the same detective-hunted-through-his-own-system energy, plus a society built on technology nobody fully understands the cost of.

But More action blockbuster than moody prestige drama - lighter on philosophy than you might want.

Total Recall1990

Schwarzenegger pulp classic about memory, identity and bodies as unreliable evidence - trashier and more fun than Altered Carbon but built on the same bones.

But Broad, campy, occasionally silly - don't expect the same seriousness or polish.

Upload2020

A lighter, funnier take on digitised consciousness and class-stratified afterlives - proof the same premise can carry comedy as easily as noir.

But Much softer tone, romantic comedy energy rather than crime thriller - a big shift if you want the grit.

Ghost in the Shell1995

Same core question, wholly different toolkit - a cyborg cop hunting a hacker who may be more alive than she is, in a medium built to render the soul as a visual, almost tactile problem in a way live action rarely dares.

Mamoru Oshii's anime classic asks the identity question Altered Carbon keeps circling - if your mind can be copied, deleted, uploaded, what exactly is the self that survives? Gorgeous and quietly devastating.

But It's slow, cerebral, more interested in ideas than plot momentum, and it's animated - a hard sell if that's not your thing.

Freejack1992

Strip Altered Carbon's neo-noir polish away and you get this - the exact same mechanics, rich immortals hijacking younger bodies to cheat death, played dead straight as trash, proving the idea works even without the prestige lighting.

A gloriously trashy 90s body-snatching thriller - a racecar driver yanked forward in time so a dying rich man can steal his body - that plays Altered Carbon's premise for pure pulp, Mick Jagger bounty hunter included.

But The effects and dialogue have aged badly, it's not smart or subtle, and the tone whiplashes between action movie and B-movie camp.