Cyberpunk 2077 has gone on to see several levels of critical acclaim for a variety of reasons, including story elements like the character Johnny Silverhand, as played by Keanu Reeves. In recent interview with IGN about his upcoming movie projects, Reeves revealed that he would like to return to the role in some form for CD Projekt RED’s in-development sequel.
“Absolutely,” said Reeves when asked if he would like to return to the role some day. “I’d love to play Johnny Silverhand again.”
However, if Reeves were to be officially confirmed by CD Projekt RED as returning in the sequel as Johnny Silverhand, those who have finished the story of Cyberpunk 2077 would likely end up with several questions about how this would be possible. Fair warning for those that haven’t yet played the game: THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR CYBERPUNK 2077 BELOW.
The main story of Cyberpunk 2077 largely revolves around the Relic – a piece of technology that was created by Japanese megacorporation Arasaka in its attempts to make its CEO – Sabura Arasaka – immortal, with the Relic seemingly able to store a human soul. In a series of events following a bombastic opening, the story of Cyberpunk 2077 then turns into protagonist V’s fight for survival as they try and figure out how they can get the Relic out of them without hurting themselves.
In a twist, the Relic houses fragments of Johnny Silverhand, who often appears to V during several story moments. Depending on the choices made by players, the ending to Cyberpunk 2077 can involve several different resolutions for Johnny Silverhand, ranging from him disappearing from the world altogether, to V sacrificing themselves to give Johnny another shot at life.
Assuming the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 take place after the events of its predecessor, Johnny Silverhand can’t really show up in the story unless there are flashbacks that date back to before his ill-fated raid on Arasaka tower in 2023. If the story of the sequel is further into the future than even Cyberpunk 2077, this would add a gap of at minimum 54 years – the time gap between Silverhand’s raid on Arasaka tower and the events of the first game.
As for when we can expect the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 to actually come out, we are still seemingly quite a few years away. CD Projekt RED itself is yet to officially unveil the sequel to the world, and the company is likely busier with its development on The Witcher 4. Back in August, the studio revealed that it had been steadily growing its development teams for both titles, however, with the team working on The Witcher 4 now numbering at 444 as of the end of July, while the team working on the Cyberpunk sequel having grown to 116.
“Our recruitment efforts have significantly sped up over the last three months and as a result the total number of talented developers working across our projects has grown by 10% reaching almost 800 people,” said joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski in a presentation to investors. “This growth was primarily driven by our two largest development teams.”
For more details about Cyberpunk 2077, check out our thoughts. The title is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.