Idris Elba is trying to rally Cyberpunk 2077 fans for a live-action movie with his character and Keanu Reeves’ Johnny Silverhand. Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most fascinating stories in the gaming industry possibly ever. The game had an incredibly lengthy development with it being announced in the early 2010s, but not actually releasing until 2020 after multiple delays. While it wasn’t in full production that entire time, it was still a game that had people eagerly anticipating it for almost a decade. When Cyberpunk 2077 finally arrived, it was met with nothing but controversy. The game was a disaster at launch and broke the hearts of many would-be fans.
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Cyberpunk 2077 launched with countless bugs, some of which were humorous and others which were game breaking. PlayStation broke its no refund policy shortly after Cyberpunk 2077‘s release and offered every player a refund along with other retailers. PlayStation proceeded to remove the game from the PlayStation Store for months while CD Projekt Red worked on numerous updates to stabilize the game. Three years later, Cyberpunk 2077 was in great shape after a ton of updates and was revisited by many who wrote it off at launch. The sci-fi game was met with praise and highlighted a wonderful redemption arc for CD Projekt Red.
In 2023, CD Projekt Red also released Cyberpunk 2077‘s only expansion, Phantom Liberty. It’s arguably one of the best expansions ever released for a game and saw players joining forces with Soloman Reed, a new character played by actor Idris Elba. Of course, it also saw the return of the much beloved Johnny Silverhand, a Tyler Durden-esque character played by none other than Keanu Reeves. CD Projekt Red’s next game will be The Witcher 4, but another Cyberpunk game is in the works. However, it’s unclear if the game will feature Silverhand or Reed again.
Idris Elba hopes that he can play Soloman Reed again, but not in another game. When speaking with Screen Rant to promote Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Elba was asked about a hypothetical Cyberpunk 2077 movie. Elba was immediately interested in the idea and liked the idea of doing a live-action Cyberpunk 2077 where he gets to act alongside Keanu Reeves. The two will be in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 later this month with Elba playing Knuckles and Reeves playing Shadow the Hedgehog.
“Oh, man, that’s a great question. I think if any film could do a live-action rendition, it could be [Cyberpunk 2077], and I think his character and my character together would be, ‘Whoa’ So, let’s speak that into existence.”
Of course, Johnny Silverhand is technically a dead character. He existed prior to the events of Cyberpunk 2077, but lives within V’s mind now. If a Cyberpunk 2077 movie did happen, it’s unlikely Elba would actually directly interact with Keanu Reeves’ character since he’s sort of like a figment of V’s imagination. CD Projekt Red is working on a new Cyberpunk anime following the success of Netflix’s Edgerunners. Very little is known about the new series, but it should hopefully hold some fans over while the wait for the next game.
Although CD Projekt Red is working on The Witcher 4, the developer has expanded to have multiple teams and offices around the world. The core team is based out of Poland, but a new studio was formed in Boston and that team will lead the next Cyberpunk game. So, that means we won’t have to wait 10+ years for the game as CD Projekt Red doesn’t need to finish The Witcher 4 to start production on the next Cyberpunk game.
Not much is known about the next Cyberpunk game, but it will likely learn from a lot of lessons from Cyberpunk 2077. It’s probably going to be a few years before we see anything from the game, but hopefully, we will see it before the end of this console generation. Multiplayer is being considered for the Cyberpunk sequel after the first game scrapped the idea, but of course, it remains to be seen if that will end up in the final product.
