We sat down with Bartosz Sztybor, the showrunner, writer, and producer for Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2, who explained the ending of the anime’s second season and why it’s so tonally different from the first.

If you’re a Cyberpunk fan, you’re likely well-acquainted with the genre’s tragic overtones. This version of the future — a version toward which we seem to be hurtling faster and faster — isn’t a happy one, and it’s no surprise; with corpo technocrats stepping on the throats of world governments and the quality of life steadily decreasing in spite of massive technological advancements, it’s difficult to find a bright spot in the grimy worlds of Neo Tokyo, futuristic Chiba, and of course, Night City.

This was reflected perfectly in the heart-wrenching conclusion of Edgerunners’ first season, where basically everybody died and only one person got a ‘good’ — if heart-breakingly bittersweet — ending. When Edgerunners 2 was revealed, almost everyone anticipated another tear-jerking tale that would leave them feeling hollow at the end… but they couldn’t have been more wrong.

In a blessed turn of events, most of our main characters in Edgerunners 2 get a ‘happy’ ending of sorts. It’s definitely a stark turn from what most viewers expected, and I had to ask Sztybor why the team went in this direction when it’s a 180 from the groundwork that was previously laid in Season 1.

“Cyberpunk originated from noir, and in noir, there is always a character versus the city," he explained. "The main point is that you’ll never win with the city or the system.

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