One of the first things you probably asked yourself as soon as you started watching Netflix Original Altered Carbon was, would you resleeve if you could? To live forever - or at least avoid death until you are ready - sounds good on paper, but if sci-fi has taught us anything, it's to be careful what you wish for.
I couldn't help but ask the Altered Carbon cast if they'd considered the same question when I sat down with them to talk about the series recently, and I was surprised that their answers were more complex than a simple yes or no. Playing these roles has obviously bought out their inner philosophers...
"I’m not convinced by the whole immortality thing," says James Purefoy, who plays Laurens Bancroft, "I think that way a lot of problems lie." Star of the show Joel Kinnaman agrees with the message of Altered Carbon, that cheating death would be bad for humanity, but personally, he'd go for it! "It probably wouldn't be good for society as a whole, but if you gave me as an individual the opportunity to continue to live, I would take it. It’s very hard to turn that down," he told me.
Of course, living forever isn't the only possibility being resleeved offers... you could also be resleeved into someone else entirely and find out what it was like to be a world-renowned boxer or a millionaire for a day. When asked who'd she'd most like to be resleeved as, Renee Elise Goldsberry, who plays Quellcrist Falconer, didn't hesitate. “I think I would enjoy being Michelle Obama," the actress says. "I’d like to know how it felt in that world to be inside a women that actually is as powerful as some of the women I play." Good answer.
Watch our interview above for the cast's full answers on whether they'd be resleeved or not, and who'd they'd be resleeved as if they could (Kinnaman is a basketball fan!), or for more Altered Carbon insights and revelations, here's what the series has in common with Doctor Who according to its star.
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