AceShowbiz - Netflix has renewed "Altered Carbon" for a second season six months after the dystopian series debuted. The new sophomore season will feature a major change as Anthony Mackie has been tapped to play a lead role in the upcoming 8-part season.

The "Avengers: Infinity War" actor is set to portray the lead Takeshi Kovacs, a role that was played by Joel Kinnaman in the first season. "Altered Carbon" will mark Mackie's first regular role in a TV series. The new casting for the character is expected since "Altered Carbon" follows the journey of Kovacks in different bodies and planets in the span of hundreds of years.

It's reported that Kinnaman and other season 1 cast members had one-year deals with Netflix. It remains to be seen whether some of them will return for season 2. However, creator/executive producer Laeta Kalogridis previously hinted that Poe (Chris Conner) and Kovacs' deadly sister Reileen (Dichen Lachman) might return despite being killed off.

Mackie is not the only addition to the new season of the sci-fi series. Behind the scenes, the snow nabs Alison Schapker, who is now attached as executive producer. She will also serve as co-showrunner alongside Kalogridis.

Based on classic cyberpunk novel of the same name by Richard K. Morgan, "Altered Carbon" takes place centuries into the future when human consciousness can be stored on digital implants (called "stacks"), allowing people, usually those who are mega-rich, to continually upgrade their bodies (dubbed "sleeves") and essentially live forever. They will be able to avoid death by jumping from body to body should they die.

Takeshi Kovacs is a dead soldier who is brought back to life centuries into a new body after his mind was imprisoned "on ice." Earth's wealthiest man, Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy), puts him on a mission to solve a murder case of Bancroft himself.