Netflix’s sci-fi series Altered Carbon has so far featured six different actors in the role of protagonist Takeshi Kovacs. The series is set in a future where humans have the ability to switch bodies by digitizing their minds and implanting it in a cortical stack. Takeshi was a former soldier who became a key member in a failed revolution attempt against the multi-planet governing body, the Protectorate.
Known as the Last Envoy, Takeshi was one of the devoted followers of Uprising leader Quellcrist Falconer. Envoys were trained to be unrivaled masters of military tactics, combat, deception, manipulation and intuition. Season 1 shows Kovacs being “spun up” back into a body, known as a “sleeve,” after several centuries of imprisonment following the failed Uprising. Altered Carbon season 2 takes place 30 years after the events of the first season, and sees Takeshi finally reunited with Quell.
Altered Carbon was adapted from the Takeshi Kovacs series by author Richard K. Morgan, and in the source material Takeshi gets a new body at the start of every book. So far the TV show has followed suit, with Anthony Mackie taking over from Joel Kinnaman for Altered Carbon season 2. However, we’ve also seen a number of other actors in the role of Takeshi Kovacs.
Byron Mann
After Takeshi survives the Battle of Stronghold, in which the rest of the Envoys are killed, he spends four years working as a mercenary. After a brief scene him laying low with his partner, Sarah, in a hotel in Bay City, they are attacked and killed by Protectorate CTAC soldiers - led by Takeshi’s former mentor and superior officer, Jaeger. Takeshi’s stack is recovered and he is then imprisoned for the next 250 years. Mann also appears later in season 1 when criminal “Dimi the Twin” uses Mann’s sleeve to gain an emotional advantage over Takeshi, forcing him to fight one of his previous bodies.
Morgan Gao
Morgan Gao plays Kovacs as a child, growing up on the distant colonial planet, Harlan’s World. He was born to a kind Japanese mother and an abusive, alcoholic Slavic father, whom Kovacs eventually kills as a child while protecting his sister, Reileen. The young Takeshi is arrested by the Protectorate and offered a chance to enlist in CTAC rather than go to prison, since Jaeger is impressed by the boy’s killer instinct. 12 year-old Takeshi is taken out of his original sleeve and put into an adult body to train as a soldier, though he eventually gets his old body back.
Will Yun Lee
Will Yun Lee plays Takeshi’s adult birth sleeve, during his career in CTAC and his later defection to join Falconer and her squad of Envoys. Lee has a significant role in both seasons of Altered Carbon. He is shown in season 1’s many flashbacks, where he and Falconer fall in love and eventually witness the death of the Uprising at the Battle of Stronghold. Then, in Altered Carbon season 2, Lee plays an illegal “double sleeve” of Takeshi: a copy of his mind from before he went AWOL, put into a clone of his birth sleeve.
Joel Kinnaman
In Altered Carbon season 1, Takeshi is in the body of Bay City police officer Elias Ryker, whose stack has been removed and imprisoned after he was framed for murder. Takeshi was placed in that body by Meths in order to punish Ryker’s girlfriend, Officer Kristin Ortega, for being too nosy about Meth criminal activities. Takeshi helps clear Ryker’s name at the end of season 1 and returns the sleeve to him so that he and Ortega can be together again. Kinnaman has said that it made sense for a different actor to play Takeshi in season 2, given the character’s resleeving after returning Ryker’s body, but he is not opposed to making an appearance in the future as Ryker.
Jihae Kim
The first version of Kovacs we meet in season 2, following Kinnaman’s departure, is by the South Korean singer and actress Jihae Kim, better known simply as Jihae. Kim’s version of Takeshi is disguising himself as a cocktail singer while waiting in a bar for a man to pay him money he is owed. However, savvy bounty hunter Trepp shoots this version of Takeshi dead and pulls his stack when he refuses to come quietly.
Anthony Mackie
Season 2’s Takeshi is played by Anthony Mackie, who is known for playing Falcon in Marvel’s Avengers films, as well as his roles in Black Mirror and The Hurt Locker. Mackie’s sleeve is a custom Protectorate military sleeve designed for top-of-the-line combat - and it shows. Takeshi’s new body can take a serious beating thanks to its rapid healing, and also comes with the nifty trick of being able to call his guns back into his hands. Mackie will most likely not be reprising his role as Takeshi Kovacs in Altered Carbon season 3 (assuming the series is renewed) due to both the books and TV show featuring Kovacs in a new sleeve at the beginning of each new story.
The three Takeshi Kovacs actors that have by far the most screen time (Lee, Kinnaman and Mackie) all have different strengths and takes on the character. Kinnaman does a great job of providing the wry, dark humor that Takeshi is known for. He also shows a wider range of emotion than the other two actors. Lee also provides similar cocky humor to Kinnaman, but is slightly more upbeat. He is clearly trained in martial arts and provides some very strong combat scenes. Mackie also demonstrates a proficiency in fight scenes, but portrays the character of Kovacs in a more conventional, reserved way. His emotions are much more controlled than Kinnaman’s, but the character’s witty humor is somewhat absent from Mackie’s version, who feels much more like a soldier rather than the sarcastic mercenary we saw in season 1.
The differences in acting styles is one of the most unique aspects of Altered Carbon, thanks to the constantly changing face of its protagonist. It will be exciting to see how other actors take on the role of Takeshi Kovacs - that is, if Netflix decides to bring the show back for a third season.
More: What To Expect From Altered Carbon Season 3
