RELATED: Lingering Questions We Have After The End Of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
There’s a handful of good television shows and series that capture the spirit of the genre that’s gradually rising in popularity. The high-tech, low-life theme glazed with a neon-lit futuristic dystopia is always an interesting backdrop for new stories. These TV shows have explored that notion and made art out of it, meaning they deserve your attention. For those looking for anime, do note that this list mostly focuses on western shows; pure Japanese cyberpunk anime is a topic for another time.
Updated January 14, 2023, by Sid Natividad: With the recent rise in popularity of the cyberpunk genre, partially thanks to Cyberpunk 2077, hopefully, the genre will get more coverage in the future. If not, then fans can always keep themselves occupied with cyberpunk shows. Granted, a good cyberpunk seriescan be hard to find these days as it’s not as popular as a game or a film. Some of the best cyberpunk shows are rather old, but they’re still worthy of consideration. The most important part is that they capture the essence of the genre and its social statement for its viewers.
13 Westworld Season 3
Release year: 2020 Watch on HBO
HBO’s Westworld could have easily gone the cyberpunk route with its premise but surprisingly, it took until season 3 for the show to dabble into the genre. The third season notably featured corporate conspiracies, samurai on the street, hacking, and neon— especially neon.
It has all the major hallmarks of cyberpunk media. Of course, to better understand the story, newcomers to the series might as well watch the first two seasons. The HBO series is mostly about the sentience of artificial intelligence as they gradually revolt after eventually realizing the sins of their human masters against them. It was dystopian from the get-go.
12 Almost Human
Release year: 2013
For those who have played Detroit: Become Human and wanted more of that dysfunctional android-human buddy cop action, then Almost Human is almost the same thing. The main character, Karl Urban’s Detective John Kennex has an irrational prejudice against androids.
RELATED: Best Cyberpunk Anime, Ranked
Ironically, he was assigned to an android cop partner named Dorian. It’s cyberpunk in theme and style though it’s mostly explored through the eyes of law enforcement which is quite rare an angle for the genre. Sadly, the show was canceled after one season, but at least it had 13 episodes.
11 Total Recall 2070
Release year: 1999
Total Recall has always been one of the biggest names when it comes to cyberpunk flagbearers. So a Total Recall TV show is always welcome in the genre. It’s quite old, however. Total Recall 2070 was released back in a time when feature-length TV shows didn’t have enough budget or worldwide appeal yet.
This particular story in the Total Recall universe is about detective David Hume whose partner was killed by sentient androids. Hume eventually discovered that his partner’s death wasn’t a faulty robotics accident, but an orchestration involving powerful corporate entities.
10 TekWar
Release year: 1994
TekWar is another old series, but it features William Shatner, so there’s plenty of star power to carry the show. Shatner’s character, Walter Bascom, is a mysterious rebel who hired a disgraced cop named Jake Cardigan to fight a cyber drug that takes its users into a fantasy world.
RELATED: Strongest Characters In Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Ranked
Aiding them are a couple of “cyberpunks” and a computer wiz hellbent on taking down this corporate conspiracy and the government agencies trying to stop them. The show is no slouch either and won a couple of Emmy Awards with several nominations back in its heyday.
9 Incorporated
Incorporated is cyberpunk at its infancy stage. It’s set in a world where corporations have unlimited power, making them more authoritative than governments. In a bid to save the woman he loves, Ben Larson went undercover as a worker for the said corporation, Spiga.
Through his cyber know-how and his charm as an undercover junior executive, Ben bit off more than he can chew as he single-handedly takes on an entire megacorporation. It’s not as flashy or as explicit as other cyberpunk media, but the essence is there and the conspiracy and suspense show is worth watching on its own merits.
8 Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Release year: 2022 Watch on Netflix
It’s made by a Japanese studio but Edgerunners is based on the 1988 Cyberpunk tabletop RPG which is similar to Dungeons and Dragons. As such, it features a Westernized view of the dark future of mankind where life holds no value and almost everyone is a struggling cyborg.
At the heart of all the desperation is teenager David Martinez from Night City. Poor David just couldn’t catch a break from Night City’s absurdity; his mother dies, he gets kicked out, and he has no money left. But his fate took an interesting turn after he came across a military-grade cybernetic implant that offered him a second chance at Night City but at a terribly high cost.
7 Blade Runner: Black Lotus
Release year: 2021 Watch on VRV
Blade Runner: Black Lotus is a tie-in and spin-off to the cyberpunk film flag-bearer, Blade Runner and its sequel, Blade Runner 2049. It does follow a different story but is set in the same world and universe as the films. The series starts off with a cliche; an amnesiac named Elle somehow stumbles upon a dystopian Los Angeles.
RELATED: Cyberpunk 2077: Best Weapons From The Edgerunners Update, Ranked
She soon finds herself on thin ice after discovering some unprecedented combat abilities and this event opened the cracks that would give her a glimpse into her cloudy past. She must then uncover her identity in a city that mostly wants her dead for some reason. Those who have seen and liked Alita: Battle Angel will find plenty to like here.
6 Altered Carbon
Release year: 2018 Watch on Netflix
One of the few big-budget live-action cyberpunk TV shows in existence, Altered Carbon is no doubt ambitious. It follows the story of Takeshi Kovacs who finds himself waking up in someone else’s body as some kind of transferred consciousness. He soon finds out that much has changed since his old body died 250 years ago. The elite are functionally immortal and are naturally caught in a web of conspiracies.
Takeshi is caught up in all this maelstrom as both the elite’s toy and investigator, as he tries to solve a murder mystery involving a powerful and immortal man. On top of that, Takeshi has some ghosts from his past life that he must revolve while skirting around his new existence as a private investigator for the rich.
5 Batman Beyond
Release year: 1999 Watch on HBO Max
Bruce Wayne was bound to grow old and seek a replacement after all that crime fighting. And it turns out the best candidate was a fiery young man named Terry McGinnis in a Gotham that’s well past its gothic phase. Batman Beyond continues that story and is set in the year 2040 after Bruce Wayne retired as Batman.
RELATED: Things That Make No Sense In Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
The city of Gotham, now caked in futuristic and grimy architecture, is still oozing with crime despite Batman’s best efforts in the past decades. Thus, it’s up to Terry McGinnis to take up the cape and continue the Dark Knight’s legacy as he navigates the mean dystopian streets of Gotham armed with a new, cybernetic Batsuit.
4 Aeon Flux
Release year: 1991 Watch on MTV
It’s old, but the Aeon Flux animated series is certainly not as campy as other cyberpunk shows back in its time period. That’s because it’s not live-action nor a satirical commentary about where society is headed. Instead, it’s about a more personal story. The animated series follows the attempts of the titular assassin, Aeon Flux, as she fights her ex-lover.
While most cyberpunk settings are based on retro-futuristic renditions of the 1980s, Aeon Flux is unapologetically 1990s in its art style. The art is unabashedly dark and surreal yet realistic enough to feel like a fever dream. Each episode also toys heavily with the concept of cybernetics and high technology.
3 Samurai Jack
Release year: 2001 Watch on HBO Max
It starts off as a rather minimalist fantasy tale but as soon as the titular hero gets sent to the future by his nemesis Aku – shapeshifting master of darkness – Jack encounters all sorts of cyberpunk trademarks. In fact, the first city he comes across is a dystopian cityscape.
RELATED: Things Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty Must Introduce
Most of the urban civilizations Jack encounters also appear to be in a dingy cyberpunk setting, which is why he often avoids urban areas in the cartoon. Regardless, a traditional samurai wandering around in a dystopian future in hopes of finding his nemesis in hopes of returning to the past is one heck of a creative pitch.
2 Tron Uprising
Release year: 2012 Watch on Disney+
It had a relatively short run, but that doesn’t mean Tron: Uprising is a lackluster show. For many of the franchise’s fans, it simply lacked the appropriate marketing and advertisements, or Disney simply didn’t find the series interesting enough. In any case, Tron: Uprising has the hallmarks of a true cyberpunk medium.
In the series, a young program named Beck fulfills his destiny to become the next “Tron” or what’s known as the greatest warrior in the computer world of Grid. As a successor to Tron, Beck must continue his rebellion into a full-blown revolution to oppose the tyrants of Grid.
1 Mr. Robot
A lot of cyberpunk purists will debate that Mr. Robot doesn’t make the cut since it’s not futuristic enough, but apart from that, it wholeheartedly embraces the philosophies of cyberpunk. It’s about a cybersecurity engineer who moonlights as a cyber vigilante or hacker by night and gets recruited by a mysterious hacker group.
Their goal? To take down one of the biggest global corporations in their world. That’s definitely cyberpunk enough, only, it’s set in contemporary times. Mr. Robot also serves as a thought-provoking commentary on corporate greed, the power of information, and the dangers of the internet. It’s cyberpunk in its infancy stage.
MORE: Cyberpunk: Best Changes Introduced By The Edgerunners Update
