Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is continuing to explore the aftermath of Cyberpunk 2077 without declaring one of the role-playing game's many endings to be the definitive outcome. Showrunner, writer, and producer Bartosz Sztybor has addressed a possible visual reference to protagonist V, the status of post-game canon, and the possibility of a third season, making clear that the franchise is designed to leave room for audiences to draw connections without requiring every story to lock into a single answer.
The second season tells a new story in Night City and is set in 2078, one year after the events of Cyberpunk 2077. Its setting naturally invites questions about what happened to V, which player choices matter, and whether the anime is quietly establishing a fixed world state for future comics, games, and screen projects. Sztybor's comments suggest the answer is deliberately flexible: there is continuity behind the scenes, but not a plan to invalidate the endings players reached in the game.
A Possible V Image Is Meant to Stay Ambiguous
Fans closely examining a scene in a data archive noticed a picture on a wall that appears to resemble female V. Asked whether that was an intentional appearance or something viewers were meant to interpret for themselves, Sztybor said it should remain open to interpretation. He also emphasized that the dialogue in that scene matters greatly, suggesting that the larger context may be more significant than simply identifying one image in the background.
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That answer will likely fuel rather than settle debate among Cyberpunk fans. V is not just a named supporting character with a fixed appearance; V is the player character in Cyberpunk 2077, with substantial variation in look, relationships, choices, and fate. A direct declaration that one version of V appears in Edgerunners could quickly raise further questions about which route through the game had become official.
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Instead, the production is favoring implication. The image can function as a thread for fans to examine, while the scene's dialogue may offer its own clues about Night City after the game. That approach allows viewers to theorize without forcing the show to spell out a conclusion that could clash with another player's experience.
No Single Cyberpunk 2077 Ending Is Being Made Canon
Sztybor confirmed that there have been extensive discussions with the Cyberpunk lore team about how stories set after the game can work. Those conversations are not purely abstract, as creators need a usable picture of Night City's political and corporate situation. But the goal is not to choose one Cyberpunk 2077 ending and label it canon.
Rather than building Edgerunners around a specific version of V's final decisions, the team has worked to establish a post-game setting that can accommodate the broad outcomes of the game's endings. Sztybor said there is one key piece of canon information available for these later stories: Arasaka has been weakened.
That is a substantial change in a universe where megacorporate power shapes virtually every aspect of life. Arasaka's diminished position offers new ways to portray Night City, its fixers, gangs, mercenaries, power brokers, and ordinary residents. At the same time, it does not demand that viewers accept one particular ending as the route that caused those conditions. The consequences can exist while the precise path remains unresolved.
For a player-driven RPG, that is a significant distinction. Cyberpunk 2077 presents endings that can differ not merely in tone but in V's alliances, personal outcomes, and the wider repercussions for major figures. Declaring one result to be the sole continuation would provide clarity for future tie-in fiction, but it could also narrow the value of choices players made. The Edgerunners team appears to be choosing the opposite trade-off: fewer explicit answers, with a larger space for separate stories.
Connected Stories Without Homework
Sztybor's broader philosophy for Cyberpunk is that each comic, anime, game, or other project should be able to stand by itself. A newcomer should be able to pick up a graphic novel or watch an animated season and receive a full story with an emotional payoff, without having to complete several other works first in order to understand a villain, a conflict, or a character motivation.
That does not mean the shared universe is being ignored. Instead, connections are meant to make the setting feel lived in. Sztybor does not see these details as simple fan-service Easter eggs inserted solely to prompt recognition. If an older character, event, or reference appears, it should have a storytelling reason while also contributing to the sense that Night City has a history beyond the boundaries of one plot.
He pointed to Sal Bigelow, who appears in Edgerunners 2 after appearing years earlier in the comic Cyberpunk: Big City Dreams. Another example is fixer Arthur Cormac, seen in the first Edgerunners season and in the comic You Have My Word, with appearances that occur at different points in the setting's timeline. Dedicated fans can connect those appearances and construct a fuller story for themselves, but no one needs to have spotted them to understand the work in front of them.
This model is particularly suited to Cyberpunk because Night City itself is the franchise's most reliable connective tissue. Characters may come and go, corporations rise and fall, and different stories may focus on radically different corners of society. Yet the city's culture, violence, technology, and relentless pursuit of survival provide a common foundation. A comic can follow one fixer, an anime can center on a new group of edgerunners, and a future game can introduce another cast without any one project becoming mandatory homework.
Why Edgerunners Avoids a Conventional Sequel Structure
The decision to tell a distinct story in the second season follows the same philosophy. Sztybor said that, while working on the first season, he was already thinking about more stories because Cyberpunk has many stories left to tell. However, the intention was not to make a standard continuation in which the next season merely extends the previous plot.
Studio Trigger initially needed a break after completing the first season. Later, discussions resumed, and Sztybor had ideas ready to pitch. The studio, CD Projekt, and the Edgerunners team were aligned on avoiding a classic sequel approach. After Sztybor presented a proposal for the second season, the project moved forward.
That history helps explain why a future third season is not being framed as inevitable just because another season is possible. The show's format is built around finding the right new perspective and the right creative team, rather than continuing by default. Night City can support anthology-like storytelling, but each entry still needs to justify itself creatively.
Edgerunners 3 Has Ideas, Not a Guarantee
When asked about an Edgerunners 3, Sztybor said he has stories in mind. He also made clear that ideas alone are not enough. A further season would require a studio and director with a strong creative vision comparable to that brought by Ikarashi. The team does not want to make a new installment that is merely adequate or falls short of the standard it has set.
"If there's no studio or director with a vision like Ikarashi, it doesn't make sense," Sztybor said, stressing that the team does not want to release work that is mediocre or insufficiently strong.
He also expressed satisfaction with how the second season completes the first, saying the pair already works as a package. That does not close the door on another season, but it establishes an important creative boundary: the existing material is not being treated as incomplete simply to manufacture demand for more.
For viewers hoping to return to the animated version of Night City, that means patience may be required. The franchise is continuing to expand in other directions, including the in-development Cyberpunk 2. A live-action Cyberpunk film is also in development, though it is not expected to simply retell the events of Cyberpunk 2077. Neither project has been positioned as the answer to Edgerunners' lingering questions.
Night City's Future Is Built on Questions
The major takeaway is that Cyberpunk's future stories are not intended to turn V's journey into a single, rigidly prescribed history. The setting has canon and creators are coordinating its major details, especially in the changed world after 2077. Arasaka's weakened state is one firm anchor. Beyond that, the franchise is preserving ambiguity where ambiguity serves the characters, the audience, and the role-playing roots of the game.
That makes the possible V image less a final answer than an invitation to look closer. It also gives Edgerunners the freedom to remain what it has been at its best: a series of complete, painful, stylish, and personal stories that happen to unfold beneath the towering lights of the same dangerous city.
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