In 2022, Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red and renowned anime studio Trigger jointly released the Netflix anime series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. In quick succession, the show joined the super exclusive club of phenomenal video game adaptations and revitalized its player base, which had long lost faith in the monumentally hyped game from its historically rocky launch. The show achieved a hat trick by winning Crunchyrolls 2023 Anime of the Year awardbeating out shows like Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, and Spy x Family. Although CD Projekt Red has stressed that there are no plans to make a sequel season, theyre far from done with creating more anime content for the series. Key among them are characters like Lucy being a guest character in Guilty Gear Strive, a tabletop epilogue, and a spin-off animated series in production at Netflix. While the aforementioned content drops are a ways away from releasing, CD Projekt Red and Trigger are keeping folks sated with new prequel manga series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Madness. The series, which will soon get an English release courtesy of Dark Horse, follows the exploits of fan-favorite character Rebecca and her brother Pilar before the animes events. A prequel to the prequel, if you will. We spoke with manga writer Bartosz Sztybor to gain insights into the series creation and what fans can expect from CD Projekt Red and future Edgerunners stories. Isaiah Colbert, io9: What sparked the idea to revisit Cyberpunk: Edgerunners as a manga? Bartosz Sztybor: There are many stories not only in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners but in the whole Cyberpunk 2077 universe. Our idea for the whole franchise is to show that this is a big, authentic, and believable world and you can achieve that through complex characters and grounded stories. You need to feel that these characters are alive, that they have their own lives, that they have a past and dreams. Thats why Doc from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners had a role in the Cyberpunk 2077: XOXO comic book. Cormac, a fixer from Cyberpunk 2077: You Have My Word was seen in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and Cyberpunk 2077: Blackout and was even mentioned in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.It makes the audience feel that these characters are alive, that theyre not just from one story, but they had a life before that and maybe after if they didnt die of course, what can easily happen in our world But also some characters arcs are finished, which is why we dont like creating prequels or origin stories just for the sake of doing so. CD Projekt Red / Trigger / Netflix Vs arc was told from start to finish, David and Lucy had their story closed, but some other characters were passengers and have the potential to be main stars. In Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, there were a few characters with such potential. When Kadokawa, a legendary Japanese manga publisher, raised interest in creating a Cyberpunk: Edgerunners manga we were super excited. Its a historic thing, as not many Western IPs have a manga treatment. So when we learned about the opportunity, I started thinking what we could do.David and Lucy were out of the picture for the reasons I mentioned above, but there were other characters with amazing stories. Becca as a fan favorite seemed the best idea, but I already knew that it shouldnt be just about her. As one of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners themes is parent-child relationships, we needed to add Beccas brother Pilar to the story and explain how their childhood traumas made them who they are. They were also a perfect match as I wanted to tell a dark comedy with this manga, following a very tragic anime; something more fun, but still brutal, of course. I always saw Becca and Pilar as the perfect characters for a sitcom with a cyberpunk twist. So you have lots of slapstick, but you dont laugh when someone slips on a banana peel but when they slip on a banana peel and shoot their head off with a shotgun. Though its not only humor, its still a character-driven tale with a complex story, soas always with CDPRits a tale about morality and shades of gray.io9: How long has the manga been in development?Sztybor: Almost two years. Kadokawa liked the idea of Becca and Pilar so I started writing pretty early, but its a big project; each chapter is 40 pages and the first book will have six chapters in total. After a few passes on the storyline, I dove into the scripts and Asano (the amazing artist behind the manga) started drawing the first pages soon after. io9: In what ways has making a manga series in collaboration with Trigger artist Asano differed from the production of the Edgerunners anime?Sztybor: In many ways, but its because making comic books or manga is much different than creating a TV show. Its mostly you, the artist, and editors that are helping tell the story in the best possible way. And Im blessed with amazing editors here. Our in-house CDPR editor Tetsuya Seya and Kadokawas Koeda-san are great, and help to bring the best out in me. In anime, you talk with many more people: you have producers, a director, and other writers. You all need to be on the same page and you all need to believe in the story youre telling so its a much longer process to understand each other and align. Making manga/comic books is more introverted; its about a spark between the writer and the artist and fortunately that spark happened pretty early while working on Cyberpunk: Edgerunners MADNESS. So making anime is a team effort, its a football match. Making a manga is a date, sitting on the beach, looking at the ocean, and holding hands. io9: Will the manga be a limited-run series, or are there plans to explore it further as an ongoing work? Sztybor: Well see. Were planning to create two books, six chapters each, but if the readers will demand more, then Im ready. I could write stories about Becca forever! io9: Rebecca is a popular character in Edgerunners. Did that impact choosing her as the focus of Madness story? Sztybor: Of course, but it was also the idea to create something more light and action-packed, and the manga format seemed perfect for telling a story about a very manga-eqsue character. At first, I was thinking about Maine, Becca, and Falco. Maine seemed a bit too noir for the genre I wanted to tackle and Falco lost against Becca and Pilar because of their popularity, but also because the ideas for Beccas and Pilars storyline were just coming to my head in hordes. CD Projekt Red / Trigger / Netflix io9: Should the prequel manga yield success, will other plans exist to explore the Edgerunners universe further with different characters from the anime? Sztybor: Honestly, the success or lack of it wont change anything. If there is a good story to tell about someone from that universe, we will do everything to tell it.io9: Is there an expected date for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Madness to be available in English for readers? Sztybor: The first book, which collects the first six chapters, will be out this summer through Dark Horse Comics. So, a nice treat a few weeks before the third anniversary of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Until then, you can rewatch all 10 episodes of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on Netflix and look forward to copping its Blu-ray when it arrives later this year. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.