50 Fun Facts About Altered Carbon

In the novel Altered Carbon, the hotel's AI takes the form of which rock star, cut from the Netflix series?

Jimi Hendrix's estate declined to license his image because of the show's violence, so the series had to invent a different host for the hotel.

In Altered Carbon, which device at the back of the neck stores a person's memories and consciousness?

The cortical stack is a disk-shaped device of alien design that humans reverse-engineered and mass-produced. Destroy it with no backup and the person is gone for good.

Altered Carbon's first lead actor said its budget beat the first three seasons of which HBO series?

Game of Thrones was the yardstick: Altered Carbon was reportedly Netflix's most expensive production at the time, though the real cost was never disclosed.

Altered Carbon's ultra-rich, who never have to die of old age, are nicknamed after which Biblical figure?

Methuselah, said in Genesis to have lived 969 years, gives the show's 'Meths' their name. They outlast everyone by moving between clones, with remote backups kept on satellites.

At the end of Altered Carbon's first season, how do two copies of Kovacs decide which one survives?

Rock-paper-scissors settles it because Kovacs had illegally cloned himself to slip past an assassin, and the authorities would uphold his pardon for only one of him.

Which Swedish-American star of The Killing played Takeshi Kovacs in the first season of Altered Carbon?

Joel Kinnaman led the first season only: Kovacs wakes in a new sleeve for season two, so the part was recast and Kinnaman came back just for flashbacks.

In Netflix's Altered Carbon, the AI running Kovacs's Bay City hotel takes the likeness of which American writer?

Edgar Allan Poe was chosen, along with a Victorian-era hotel, because the showrunner felt the pair would juxtapose well with the futuristic city outside.

Which Marvel star, known as Sam Wilson, took over as Takeshi Kovacs for season two of Altered Carbon?

Anthony Mackie became the new host body for Kovacs when the show was renewed in July 2018; his eight-episode season arrived in February 2020.

Which wealthy immortal pulls Takeshi Kovacs out of prison in Altered Carbon to solve his own murder?

Laurens Bancroft is centuries old and one of the wealthiest men in the settled worlds. He offers Kovacs a pardon and vast wealth in exchange for the answer.

Altered Carbon belongs to which science-fiction subgenre, shared with Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell?

Cyberpunk is how both the series and its source novel are classed. Critics said the show leans hard into those roots: it often overwhelms but never bores.

Altered Carbon was produced in which Canadian city, whose Marine Building served as a tycoon's home?

Vancouver stood in for Bay City: its old Canada Post building became the clinic where Kovacs is tortured, and a university rose garden a rich man's grounds.

Which Altered Carbon villain, long believed dead in a crushed uprising, is revealed to be Kovacs's sister?

Reileen Kawahara survived because her mind was already backed up: she had betrayed her comrades, then spent the centuries since becoming wealthy and powerful.

Which planet, the birthplace of Takeshi Kovacs, is the setting for the second season of Altered Carbon?

Harlan's World matters to everyone in the settled worlds: the alien material that makes digital immortality possible can only be found there.

In the novel Altered Carbon, Bay City is the future name of which American city?

San Francisco is Bay City's former name in the novel. On screen it became a futuristic metropolis whose richest resident lives in a skyscraper far above everyday people.

Renée Elise Goldsberry, the rebel leader of Altered Carbon, won a Tony Award for which Broadway musical?

Hamilton made Goldsberry a star as Angelica Schuyler. On Netflix she plays a strategist and scientist who is seen largely in Kovacs's flashbacks and hallucinations.

Quellcrist Falconer leads which elite rebel group in Altered Carbon, of which Takeshi Kovacs is the last survivor?

The Envoys were defeated 250 years before the first season. The novel flips them: there they are elite soldiers sent to crush planetary unrest, not rebels.

Which English author's first novel was Altered Carbon, a blend of science fiction and hardboiled detective fiction?

Richard K. Morgan sold the film rights for a reported $1,000,000, which let him become a full-time writer.

In Altered Carbon's first season, how did Kovacs's wealthy client really die, just as the police had concluded?

He killed himself to wipe his memory of a killing he had committed in a drugged rage, part of a trap the season's true villain had set to control him.

Altered Carbon: Resleeved, a prequel released on Netflix weeks after season two, is what kind of production?

An anime film made in Japan, it is set 253 years before the first season. Critics praised its animation more than its characters and plot.

Which Bay City police lieutenant in Altered Carbon is the former lover of the man whose body Kovacs wears?

Kristin Ortega comes from a religious Mexican American family of cops, and she secretly planted an illegal tracker on Kovacs soon after he woke up.

In Altered Carbon's first season, Takeshi Kovacs wakes in a sleeve that belonged to which jailed police officer?

Elias Ryker had been framed for murder by a hitman called Dimi the Twin, and one actor plays both Ryker and the Kovacs who wears his body.

In the novel Altered Carbon, members of which faith refuse resleeving after death, making them easy targets for murder?

Catholics in the novel believe the soul goes to Heaven at death and would not pass into a new body, so killers know such victims may never come back to testify.

Steve Blackman, co-showrunner of Altered Carbon's first season, went on to run which Netflix superhero series?

The Umbrella Academy, based on the comics by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, had Blackman as its showrunner. He had also won a Writers Guild award for Fargo.

The author of the novel Altered Carbon wrote two Marvel Comics miniseries about which spy heroine?

Black Widow gained a new backstory involving the Red Room in his two miniseries, which earned him a 'Special Thanks' credit on the 2021 film about her.

Which screenwriter of Shutter Island created Netflix's Altered Carbon and served as its first showrunner?

Laeta Kalogridis found the novel a tough sell to film studios because of its complexity and R-rated material, until Netflix ordered a series in January 2016.

The novel Altered Carbon won which American science-fiction prize, given each year to the best original paperback?

The Philip K. Dick Award went to the novel's U.S. edition in 2003. Kirkus Reviews had welcomed the book for its high body count and gadgetry of pure genius.

Which English actor, Mark Antony in HBO's Rome, plays the wealthy client who hires Kovacs in Altered Carbon?

James Purefoy played the client in season one only. Earlier he had been cast as V in V for Vendetta, before he was replaced and dubbed over by Hugo Weaving.

Which Mexican actress plays the Bay City police lieutenant who shadows Kovacs in Altered Carbon's first season?

Martha Higareda was already famous at home, where an early film hit earned her the nickname 'The Mexican Sweetheart', before Netflix cast her as its tough detective.

Which Dollhouse and Severance actress plays the sister of Takeshi Kovacs in Altered Carbon?

Dichen Lachman, born in Kathmandu before her family moved to Australia, plays the sister through season one and returns as a guest in season two.

Which actor plays the hotel's AI proprietor in both seasons of Altered Carbon, a performance singled out by IGN?

Chris Conner's AI hotelier is mocked by fellow hotel AIs for its interest in human beings, and in season two it faces a reboot that will wipe every memory.

Which actor and martial artist plays Takeshi Kovacs in his original body across both seasons of Altered Carbon?

Will Yun Lee, the son of a taekwondo grandmaster, returned in season two as Kovacs Prime, an old copy of the hero revived and sent to track him down.

Which Luke Cage actress, known as Misty Knight, plays the bounty hunter Trepp in Altered Carbon's second season?

Simone Missick joined the main cast for season two, where her character decides to go after Kovacs because the bounty on him keeps climbing.

Which actor, the 1980s icon Max Headroom, plays Carnage, the AI running a fight club in Altered Carbon?

Matt Frewer's Carnage runs the Fight Drome, where Kovacs is disturbed to find one of his own previous bodies kept in storage at the arena.

Which sequel novel to Altered Carbon shares its title with the final episode of the Netflix series?

Broken Angels, published a year after the original, sends Kovacs to war with a mercenary outfit in search of a buried alien artefact.

What does Kovacs pay for after Altered Carbon's police lieutenant is gravely wounded by an assassin?

A cybernetic arm soon earns its keep: in the same episode she uses it to finish off a hitman who ambushes the pair and drags them to the Fight Drome.

In Altered Carbon's flashbacks, whom does the young Takeshi Kovacs kill to protect his little sister?

His father had just killed the children's mother and disposed of her body. Kovacs was held for the crime, then recruited into CTAC, an elite military force.

Colonel Ivan Carrera, who hunts Kovacs in Altered Carbon's second season, is secretly which figure from Kovacs's past?

Jaeger was the commanding officer who recruited the young Kovacs into CTAC and became a surrogate parent to him, which makes the manhunt personal.

In Altered Carbon's second season, which orbital laser defence system shoots down a governor's firework rockets?

Angelfire becomes the season's ultimate weapon: in the finale Kovacs lets himself be infected and redirects it onto himself to destroy the invader.

In Altered Carbon's second season, a member of which alien civilisation seeks revenge on the planet's human founders?

The Elders once inhabited many of the colony planets. One of them hijacks a human body in season two to avenge the massacre of its children.

What is the name of the exclusive pleasure palace that serves as the villain's base in Altered Carbon's first season?

Head in the Clouds crashes in the finale once its main power is shut down, and Kovacs chooses to stay aboard with his sister as it falls.

In Altered Carbon: Resleeved, Takeshi Kovacs is hired by a yakuza boss to protect a young woman of which profession?

The tattooist, Holly, matters because the syndicate kills each outgoing boss through a programmed death system embedded in his tattoos.

Altered Carbon: Download Blues continued the story of Takeshi Kovacs in which format, a year after the Netflix debut?

A graphic novel, Download Blues was followed in 2022 by a second, One Life, One Death, which kept Kovacs in print after Netflix cancelled the show.

The author of the novel Altered Carbon spent 14 years in which job before becoming a full-time writer?

Teaching English let him travel the world after he studied modern languages and history at Cambridge; his last post was at the University of Strathclyde.

Which Stargate SG-1 star plays Horace Axley, the wealthy man whose murder opens Altered Carbon's second season?

Michael Shanks, best known as Daniel Jackson, plays a rich man who tracks Kovacs down to hire him as protection and is dead before the job can begin.

Which composer of Fargo and Star Trek: Discovery, a founder of the band Tonic, scored Altered Carbon?

Jeff Russo began as a rock musician before turning to screen music, and his score for Fargo won him a Primetime Emmy in 2017.

Which producer of The Matrix reportedly paid $1,000,000 for the film rights to the novel Altered Carbon?

Joel Silver never got his film made: the rights later changed hands and the project sat in development hell for a decade before reaching the screen.

In the Altered Carbon novels, who trains Takeshi Kovacs, a role the Netflix series gives to Quellcrist Falconer?

Virginia Vidaura is only a minor character on screen. In the books the rebel leader's uprising happened long before Kovacs was born, so she could never have taught him.

In Altered Carbon's second season, Kovacs is sentenced to die in which televised gladiatorial event?

The Circle pits a drugged Kovacs against mercenaries made to look like friends from his past, until a sympathiser cuts the arena's power and he escapes.

Dig 301, the AI who befriends the hotel's proprietor in Altered Carbon's second season, was built for which field?

Archaeology is Dig 301's trade: she is an 'archaeologue' AI who later gives herself a new name and takes over the hotel while its owner reboots.

For which holiday does Altered Carbon's police lieutenant put her late grandmother into a criminal's body?

Day of the Dead, which the family calls Los Muertos, brings the grandmother back for one festive meal. Afterwards she asks not to be spun up again.