There’s been as much (if not maybe a little more) talk about the fact that Keanu Reeves is in Cyberpunk 2077 as the game itself since it was revealed that Reeves would be playing key role in the upcoming RPG. Interestingly, as much it’s been talked about, very little has been talked about the actual role itself. Despite what it may seem like with discourse around the game, Reeves isn’t playing himself. We already knew that the company wanted Reeves pretty badly, and while part of that is just a love of the actor, it was also because he just fit the role so well.
Keanu will play a character called Johnny Silverhand. The character is actually a significant one from Cyberpunk 2020, the tabletop game 2077 is based on. He’s rockstar-turned-rebel who directly leads to the collapse of one of the biggest, and most dangerous, corporations in Cyberpunk lore. Quest manager Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz spoke with GamesIndustry, saying that Reeves was a natural fit due to rebellious air he’s developed as an actor, as well as the roles he’s played, which put his character in a similar situation like The Matrix or Johnny Mnemonic.
“We were thinking about who [Johnny] is as a character,” he said. “He is a rebel and is standing against the oppression; he’s standing for an idea. A lot of characters that Keanu has played in his career were like that as well. We felt it was a natural pick for the character.
“Also, I’m not sure if you know this, but he’s also played a lot of characters called John or Johnny, which creates this cool link. In general, we felt it was a natural pick and he’s a very experienced actor. We were very excited to be working with him.”
We’ll get to see how well Keanu Reeves plays the role firsthand when Cyberpunk 2077 releases April 16th, 2020 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.