Last year, IGN visited the set of Altered Carbon Season 2 as part of an exclusive IGN Premiere first look at the Netflix show's much-anticipated return. We'll be rolling out a series of exclusive sneak peeks for Season 2 this week, so keep it locked right here for never-before-seen interviews and behind the scenes footage of Anthony Mackie as Takeshi Kovacs, Chris Conner as Poe, and Renée Elise Goldsberry as Quellcrist Falconer. And be sure to check out Altered Carbon Season 2 when it premieres on Netflix on Thursday, February 27, 2020. Be sure to check out our spoiler-free review of Altered Carbon Season 2

Part of IGN's Altered Carbon Season 2 guide

What Makes Anthony Mackie's Takeshi Kovacs Special in Season 2?

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What Kind of Upgrades Does Kovacs' New Sleeve Have?

One of the biggest questions we had after the Season 1 finale of Altered Carbon was who is going to play the next Takeshi Kovacs, since we knew Joel Kinnaman was leaving the role? Now that we know Takeshi is rocking a brand-new Anthony Mackie sleeve, what does that mean for the character in Season 2? Sure, Takeshi is still Takeshi inside of that cortical stack of his, but every actor who has played him, (Joel Kinnaman, Will Yun Lee, and Byron Mann) so far, has brought a different kind of swagger to the role.IGN traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia to visit the set in order to learn more about what makes Mackie's Kovacs different from the other iterations of the character. At first, Mackie jokingly said, "Well, he's black," but then thought on it for a while. "It’s interesting because he is different," Mackie told IGN. "His level of intrigue, his passion, his desires. In the first season, [Takeshi] was very downtrodden."If you want to watch our full interview with Mackie, check out the video below or at the top of the page:We also spent some time with the newly appointed showrunner, Alison Schapker (Fringe, Lost), who explained how Takeshi's personality changes are a direct result of his quest to find Quellcrist Falconer (Renée Elise Goldsberry). "Takeshi Kovacs in Season 1 was a Kovacs who had nothing left to lose," Schapker explained. "And Quellcrist Falconer [was] a woman he lost centuries ago, and he had no chance of finding her. And there’s a promise made to the audience at the end of Season 1, which is: she may be out there. So in Season 2, Kovacs is closer to her than he’s ever been, and that’s a really different Kovacs because that’s a Kovacs who has something to care about."If you've had a chance to check out the official Season 2 trailer for Altered Carbon , then you may have noticed that Mackie's Takeshi has some pretty spectacular upgrades that make him an even more efficient killer. Schapker told us that there's one in particular that she and her team were very fond of. "We love the Mag Plates, that you see in the teaser [trailer] where he can call weapons that are biometrically coded to his sleeve."Schapker also promised us that there are "other secrets to his sleeve," but we'll have to wait until Season 2 of Altered Carbon premieres on Netflix on February 27 to find out more.

David Griffin still watches DuckTales in his pajamas with a cereal bowl in hand. He's also the TV Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter