Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 2 May Take Place After Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 appears to be positioned as a new story in Night City that comes after David Martinez's era--and it may also come after the events of Cyberpunk 2077. The anime has not provided an explicit calendar date in dialogue or placed a neat timestamp on its action, so there is no definitive official year to point to just yet. Still, its story contains several signals that help narrow the possibilities. References to David's legend, the changing status of Arasaka, and the renewed use of Soulkiller all make a setting around 2078 or 2079 a plausible reading.

That interpretation remains unconfirmed. Bartosz Sztybor, the creator and showrunner, has declined to state outright whether season 2 takes place before or after the 2077 game storyline. He has indicated that the answer exists within the narrative, while also saying that directly revealing its precise placement would be a spoiler. For viewers interested in fitting the new anime into the larger franchise chronology, that leaves the details on screen as the most important evidence.

Season 2 is definitely later than Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 1

The clearest conclusion is that season 2 follows the first season. The original Cyberpunk: Edgerunners story centers on David Martinez, whose rise and death become part of Night City folklore. Dialogue both within the anime's wider continuity and in Cyberpunk 2077 has helped place David's story at approximately 2076. In the game, references establish that David had met one of Night City's fixers roughly a year before the game's main events, which occur in 2077.

Season 2 treats those earlier events as something with real distance behind them. David is no longer simply a recent name from a fresh disaster; his actions have become the kind of tale that circulates in the city, gathering mythic weight as people repeat it. That does not establish an exact interval by itself, since legends can develop quickly in a place as brutal and information-hungry as Night City. But it does make a direct overlap with David's final days difficult to support.

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A particularly useful indication comes from D., who describes David's actions as having happened "a while back" in the finale. The wording is intentionally imprecise, but it implies more than an immediate continuation of the first season. At minimum, season 2 is set in 2077 or later. The larger question is whether it occurs during the game's major crisis at Arasaka, or after V's assault has already reshaped the balance of power.

The Soulkiller clue may connect the anime to Cyberpunk 2077's aftermath

One of the strongest pieces of timeline evidence comes from Soulkiller. In the world of Cyberpunk, the technology has enormous consequences: it can copy or alter a person's consciousness, turning human identity into data. It is deeply tied to Arasaka, Johnny Silverhand, and the central conflict of Cyberpunk 2077.

Season 2's sixth episode includes a reference to the game's events and to the process through which Johnny Silverhand's engram becomes connected with V. The same underlying technology later becomes relevant to D. This is significant because Soulkiller had not been treated as an openly active, widely usable system before the events surrounding Cyberpunk 2077. Its visibility in season 2 suggests a world in which the secrets around it are no longer contained in quite the same way.

The first episode also presents Arasaka as a corporation taking unusually heavy losses. That creates room for competitors, including Kung Tao, to gain ground. Kung Tao's duplication of Soulkiller is especially notable: it points to a corporate environment where Arasaka's grip on one of its most consequential assets has been weakened.

That situation fits naturally with a post-2077 setting. Across the possible endings of Cyberpunk 2077, V's final push against Arasaka has the potential to inflict a major blow on the megacorporation. The exact outcome varies with player choice, and the franchise has not designated an exact game ending as the single explanation for season 2. Even so, the broader idea of an injured Arasaka, with rivals eager to exploit its vulnerability, aligns with the landscape presented by the anime.

Why 2078 or 2079 is the leading estimate

Putting the clues together produces a reasonable, if still tentative, timeline. David's death and the events of season 1 land around 2076. The main events and ending of Cyberpunk 2077 take place in 2077. Season 2 then appears to happen after enough time has passed for David's exploits to be remembered as an older Night City story, while Arasaka's situation has deteriorated and Soulkiller-related developments have become more visible.

That points toward 2078 or 2079 as the current best estimate. A date in 2078 would allow for a relatively quick shift in the corporate order following the upheaval at Arasaka. A 2079 setting would give more time for the political and technological fallout to spread through Night City and beyond. Neither year has been formally confirmed, and the available evidence does not yet distinguish decisively between them.

The scale of season 2's later events also supports a later placement. Without getting into specific finale developments, the story involves consequences substantial enough that it would be difficult to imagine them going entirely unmentioned in a game set afterward. If season 2 preceded Cyberpunk 2077, the absence of references to such major devastation, particularly in the Badlands, would raise obvious questions. A setting after the game avoids that problem.

A working Cyberpunk timeline

Until CD Projekt Red or the anime's creators provide a direct date, the franchise chronology is best viewed as a working arrangement rather than a locked historical record. Cyberpunk stories have a long fictional history, and future games, anime episodes, or official materials could clarify details or adjust how events line up.

• 2023: Johnny Silverhand dies.
• Approximately 2076: The events of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 1 unfold, ending with David Martinez's death.
• 2077: The main events and finale paths of Cyberpunk 2077 take place, including V's confrontation with Arasaka.
• Approximately 2078 or 2079: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2, based on the clues currently available. This placement is not confirmed.

What the ambiguity means for the new season

Keeping the date unstated gives season 2 flexibility. Cyberpunk 2077 has multiple endings, each with its own implications for V, Arasaka, and Night City. By avoiding a blunt declaration that the anime follows one exact resolution, the show can explore a changed world without immediately settling every continuity question players may have.

It also reinforces one of the defining traits of the setting. Night City is bigger than any one mercenary, corporation, or catastrophe. David Martinez's tragedy becomes a legend. V's actions can shake the foundations of Arasaka. Yet new crews, new corporate schemes, and new uses for dangerous technology continue to emerge. The city absorbs the damage and creates another story from the wreckage.

For now, the most careful answer is that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 is unquestionably after season 1 and very likely after Cyberpunk 2077. The evidence favors a setting in the late 2070s, most plausibly 2078 or 2079, but viewers should treat that as an informed estimate rather than established canon. Sztybor's comments suggest that the intended answer is embedded in the season itself, meaning future viewing and official clarification may yet make Night City's chronology much clearer.