Netflix’s Altered Carbon (2018) depicts a dystopian future where death is optional for the wealthy through “stack” technology—implants that store consciousness for transfer between bodies (“sleeves”). This groundbreaking adaptation of Richard K. Morgan’s cyberpunk novel examines how immortality fundamentally reshapes human identity, morality, and social structures. The story follows Takeshi Kovacs, a former elite rebel who awakens 250 years after his death in a new body, facing a complex mystery that exposes both personal demons and deep societal corruption.
The series portrays a world dramatically split by technological inequality, where the ultra-wealthy elite achieve practical immortality through endless body transfers while others struggle for survival. When Laurens Bancroft, one of the oldest and richest humans alive, resurrects Kovacs to solve his own mysterious murder, it unveils darker truths about their seemingly advanced society. Starring Joel Kinnaman and Martha Higareda, the show masterfully blends noir crime thriller elements with profound philosophical questions about consciousness and immortality’s true cost to humanity.
Resurrection Mission
In the universe of Altered Carbon, set over 350 years in the future on Earth, death is no longer a permanent end for the wealthy. They can transfer their consciousness into new bodies using a technology called the stack, which stores their entire being and memories. The story follows Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman), a former elite soldier known as an Envoy.
Kovacs is resurrected 250 years after his death at the behest of Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy), the world’s richest man. Police officer Kristin Ortega (Martha Higareda), who harbors deep resentment towards “Meths”—the ultra-rich who can live indefinitely by switching bodies—escorts him to meet Bancroft. To regain his freedom, Kovacs must solve the mystery of how Bancroft’s body was killed. Initially, he declines the offer, but Bancroft gives him a night to reconsider.
Convinced that this is his last day of freedom, Kovacs partakes in various drugs and seeks refuge at The Raven Hotel, managed by an AI named Edgar Poe (Chris Conner). There, he survives an assassination attempt by Dimitri Kadmin a.k.a Dimi the Twin (Tahmoh Penikett), thanks to Poe’s intervention. Realizing that larger forces are at work, he contacts Bancroft and accepts the proposition.
Kovacs starts his investigation by looking into the death threats received by Bancroft. One lead takes him to Vernon Elliot (Ato Essandoh), who accuses Bancroft of causing the death of his daughter Lizzie (Hayley Law), a sex worker. Kovacs finds that Lizzie is stuck in a traumatic loop, reliving her assault whenever she interacts with someone new. En route to Lizzie’s brothel, he notices a mysterious figure watching him from a distance.
At the brothel, he learns that Bancroft was a frequent patron of Lizzie’s services. As he leaves, he clashes with a group of augmented drug dealers and defeats them with Vernon’s help. Later, Ortega arrests him, but he is quickly released by Bancroft’s lawyer, Oumou Prescott (Tamara Taylor). Back at his quarters, Miriam Bancroft (Kristin Lehman), Laurens’s wife, draws him in with a lover’s seduction, slipping a drug into his drink to knock him out, then having sex with him as he lies unconscious.
Investigation Intensifies
Kovacs initiates a deal with Vernon Elliot, proposing to finance the psychosurgery for Elliot’s daughter in exchange for Elliot serving as his backup at Bancroft’s gathering. Elliot accepts, and they attend the party together, an event Bancroft orchestrated to assemble all potential killers in one location. This setup enables Kovacs to discreetly question the suspects.
During the event, Ortega notices a mysterious man but loses track of him afterward, later referring to him as Mister Leung a.k.a Ghostwalker (Trieu Tran). Simultaneously, Elliot seizes the opportunity to infiltrate Bancroft’s system, extracting information about his daughter Lizzie, highlighting the strategic use of the gathering for multiple purposes.
Later that evening, as retribution for Kovacs’ affair with his wife, Bancroft compels Kovacs into a death match. Despite the severity of this ordeal, Kovacs survives and informs Bancroft that none of the party guests were responsible for his death, clearing them of suspicion. Following this, Kovacs visits Lizzie’s brothel but is drugged and kidnapped, marking a significant turn in the narrative with increased personal risk.
The abductor is revealed to be another copy of Dimi the Twin, who transports Kovacs to a specialized facility designed for virtual reality torture. Dimi demands to know Kovacs’ employer, mistakenly believing Kovacs is Elias Ryker, a police officer. Within the simulation, Kovacs recalls his virtual torture training as an Envoy, conducted by Quellcrist “Quell” Falconer (Renee Elise Goldsberry), the Envoys’ leader. Leveraging this training, Kovacs breaks free from the simulation and eliminates everyone at the facility, showcasing his resilience and tactical skills.
Meanwhile, Ortega, having spent the day with her family, tracks Kovacs to his hotel after discovering his involvement in the bloodshed at the simulation center. Kovacs then realizes that Ortega has been following the sleeve he inhabits, not him personally since his awakening. Ortega confirms that the body indeed belonged to Ryker, her former partner, adding a layer of personal connection to their investigation.
Deadly Family Secrets
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Bound by their recent discovery, Ortega and Kovacs persist in investigating Bancroft’s murder. Their inquiry leads them to Fight Drome, an AI-operated combat arena where Bancroft and his son Isaac (Antonio Marziale) were reportedly seen on the murder night. Surveillance footage reveals Bancroft striking Isaac while repeatedly shouting, “You are not me, you will never be me!” This confrontation underscores familial tension.
Proceeding to Isaac’s residence, they uncover a 3D bio-printer used by Isaac to clone his father’s body, intending to assume Bancroft’s identity upon his true death, revealing a motive rooted in identity theft and succession. After returning to the police station to interrogate Dimi the Twin, Kovacs and Ortega become separated.
Ortega plans to question Dimi during transport but is ambushed by Ghostwalker, who appears to be working with Dimi. Ghostwalker brutally wounds Ortega and attempts to slag her—destroying her stack and killing her permanently. Just before the fatal shot, her partner Samir Abboud (Waleed Zuaiter) makes the ultimate sacrifice, throwing himself in front of the bullet and getting slagged instead, emphasizing the high stakes and personal costs of their mission.
Kovacs quickly takes Ortega to a medical facility after she is injured, where doctors manage to save her life, though she needs her arm replaced with a prosthetic. Meanwhile, Dimi and Ghostwalker report to a mysterious Mr. Hemingway (Arnold Pinnock), who orders Dimi’s execution. With help from Carnage (Matt Frewer), the FightDrome’s owner, Dimi escapes and sleeves into Kovacs’s original body (Byron Mann).
Dimi captures both Kovacs and Ortega to force them into combat, but they prove too powerful. Ortega defeats Dimi, who poisons them before dying. As they succumb to the poison, Carnage orders his men to finish them off, but Kovacs’s sister, Reileen Kawahara (Dichen Lachman), arrives unexpectedly, eliminating Carnage’s men and rescuing them.
Siblings Dark History
While recovering at Reileen’s residence, Kovacs experiences flashbacks revealing their past. After killing their abusive father, they were separated: Kovacs joined CTAC under Jaeger’s influence, while Reileen aligned with the Yakuza. Years later, during an operation, they reconnect, betray their factions, and flee to Harlan’s World to join Falconer’s rebellion. There, Kovacs and Falconer develop a romantic relationship, and she reveals she invented the stacks for immortality, later deciding to reverse their misuse by the wealthy.
The Protectorate attacks their camp with the Rawling virus, driving Envoys mad and causing mutual slaughter, with only Kovacs, Rei, and Falconer surviving. During an escape, Reileen betrays the camp, kills Falconer by detonating their ship (having backed up her consciousness), and Kovacs realizes Reileen has been watching him, evidenced by found sleeves, including Hemingway’s.
Realizing Reileen destroyed those he loved, Kovacs rejects her proposal to solve the Bancroft case together. She threatens to have Leung kill Ortega and his friends unless he cooperates, revealing she manipulated Bancroft to release him. To protect his companions and conclude the investigation, Kovacs arranges for Ava (Courtney Richter), Vernon’s wife and a skilled hacker, to resleeve into a male body.
Ava creates false footage implicating Oumou Prescott (Tamara Taylor), which Bancroft accepts, stripping Prescott of privileges and condemning her to an ordinary life. Meanwhile, Ortega investigates the woman who rescued them at the FightDrome, locates Reileen’s clone storage, and survives an attack, eliminating all clones except one in a child’s sleeve.
Final Confrontation
Reileen kidnaps Ortega and brings her to her headquarters, Head in the Clouds, while Leung brutally massacres Ortega’s entire family. In response, Kovacs forms an alliance with Vernon, Mickey (Adam Busch), Ava, and Poe to plan a mission to infiltrate Reileen’s headquarters and save Ortega by infecting Reileen’s stack with the Rawling virus during her backup process.
After successfully executing their plan, they confront Reileen. She smirks and reveals that she lured Bancroft to Head in the Clouds, where he indulged in the real death of two sex workers for his twisted pleasure. One woman broke free and leapt from the tower, hoping her stack would be recovered to expose him—but Reileen had other plans. She recoded the woman’s stack as Neo-Catholic, ensuring no one could resurrect her to tell the tale.
It was all part of Reileen’s scheme to trap Bancroft. With evidence of his crime in hand, she forced him to block Resolution 653—a law that would revive murder victims to name their killers, no matter their religious coding. The law threatened her illegal empire, and Bancroft’s influence kept it at bay. But after burying the bill, the weight of his shame proved too much. Bancroft destroyed his own stack, ending his life for good.
As Reileen finishes her confession, Leung and his enforcers arrive to protect her. Leung kills Mickey and Poe and captures Ava and Vernon. To save his allies from execution, Kovacs agrees to stay with Reileen, but chaos erupts when Lizzie—transferred into a synthetic body by Poe—arrives at her station. She joins Kovacs’s team in fighting Reileen’s forces. During the battle, Ortega confronts Leung and destroys his stack, killing him permanently, while Kovacs overpowers Reileen. Meanwhile, the station loses power and starts to fall.
After defeating their enemies, Ortega pleads with Kovacs to escape with her, but he chooses to remain with his sister, Reileen, as the station falls. Despite the crash, Kovacs’s stack survives, and he lives on. Bancroft and his wife are charged for their crimes. Lizzie, still haunted by her past, had been pregnant with Bancroft’s child—until Miriam attacked her, causing the death of her baby. Finally, with all adversaries either in custody or eliminated, Kovacs tells Ortega he will leave Ryker’s sleeve, and they say their goodbyes.
