Avida and Weak Started at CD PROJEKT RED Before TRIGGER Animated Edgerunners 2

Avida's blue lipstick is one of the details executive producer Saya Elder remembers from her first look at the character. In a newly published transcript of CD PROJEKT RED's AnsweRED podcast, Elder and showrunner Bartosz Sztybor explain that Avida and Weak were initially designed within CD PROJEKT RED for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2.

Elder says she was surprised when animation studio TRIGGER accepted Avida's proposed design immediately. She had expected a more conventionally anime-styled revision, but the design was retained.

Making room for another interpretation

The exchange sits inside a broader discussion about adapting a game world for animation. Elder recalls concern that the heavily modified Maelstrom gang would be difficult to animate because its characters have so many lines and details.

She describes the need to give TRIGGER room to interpret the setting for a different medium, even when a design departs from what appears in Cyberpunk 2077. The contrast between an internally proposed character and the animation team's own interpretations makes the collaboration more than a simple transfer of game designs.

Read the AnsweRED podcast transcript

The people and the release

The official series announcement credits Kai Ikarashi as director and Kanno Ichigo as lead character designer. Masahiko Otsuka and Sztybor are among the returning creative collaborators, with Sztybor serving as showrunner, story writer and producer.

The ten-episode standalone series premiered on Netflix on October 20, 2026. The podcast transcript, published November 5, revisits its production without treating the characters' initial proposals as a credit for every step of their final animation.

Read the official premiere announcement