Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2 Gets Its First Look at Anime Expo 2026

Four years after the original Edgerunners left a crater in the anime community, the follow-up is finally ready to show itself.

CD Projekt Red and Studio Trigger confirmed that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 will receive its first official look at Anime Expo 2026, with a dedicated panel scheduled for July 3 at 7:30 PM PDT inside the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The panel is the biggest update the project has received since its initial announcement and marks the first time audiences will see actual footage from the new series.

Who Is Making It and What They Have Said

The core creative team is a mix of returning talent and new additions. Director Kai Ikarashi steps into the role, bringing a fresh eye to the Night City setting. Showrunner Bartosz Sztybor, who worked closely on the original series as a writer, returns to lead the narrative. Executive producer Saya Elder rounds out the confirmed panel participants alongside additional special guests whose identities have not been revealed ahead of the event.

Sztybor has already described the new story as darker and more emotional than the first season. The official announcement framed Edgerunners 2 as a raw chronicle of redemption and revenge, accompanied by the question that has stuck with the community since it was first posted: when the world is blinded by spectacle, what extremes do you have to go to make your story matter?

That framing tells you something real about the tone they are building toward. The original series was about spectacle itself, David Martinez burning bright and burning out in the way Night City demands of everyone who tries to rise above their station. Edgerunners 2 sounds like it is interrogating what comes after that kind of story, what happens to people who are not spectacular, who are not chosen by fate or circumstance, and who still need to survive the same city.

What Is Confirmed About the Story

Edgerunners 2 is a standalone ten-episode series set in the world of Cyberpunk 2077. The characters from the first season who died stay dead. No resurrections, no timeline resets. Night City continues without them, and a completely new cast carries the story forward.

The connection to Cyberpunk 2 remains unconfirmed. The original series wove references and character appearances into the game in ways that enriched both properties. Whether Edgerunners 2 carries that relationship forward into CDPR's next game is something the July 3 panel may or may not address.

What to Expect on July 3

The panel promises a first look at the new story, which almost certainly means a teaser trailer and character design reveals. A release date announcement is possible but likely premature given where production appears to stand. A 2027 window is the most realistic expectation based on current signals.

Anime Expo 2026 is where the original Edgerunners sequel was first confirmed. Coming back to the same event with the first footage is a deliberate full circle moment from a team that understands how to build anticipation.

July 3 is the date to mark.