Paramount’s Cyberpunk 2077 Movie’s Video Game-Accurate Story Addressed By CD Projekt Red

Published Oct 16, 2026, 11:44 AM EDT

Ryan Northrup is a Senior Staff Writer on ScreenRant's Movie & TV News team, where he has authored nearly 5,000 articles, including features and reviews. A graduate of McMaster University, Ryan began his career in public relations before attending Vancouver Film School. There, he built lasting industry connections and optioned a feature film screenplay.

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Paramount's Cyberpunk 2077 movie gets a surprising new tease from CD Projekt Red.

The film was first announced on October 8, six years after the hit video game first hit shelves in 2020. The Cyberpunk 2077 adaptation has no confirmed cast or director, but CD Projekt Red will produce alongside Paramount, with longtime Transformers and G.I. Joe producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura also attached.

The best-selling RPG follows a protagonist named V as he works to steal a biochip from the powerful Arasaka Corporation, but CD Projekt Red Co-CEO Michal Nowakowski teases in a recent interview with PAP Biznes (via GamesRadar+) that audiences shouldn't expect to see this story recreated in the Cyberpunk 2077 movie. According to the executive, the movie will take the approach of telling a new story set in the world of the game. Check out Nowakowski's comment below:

At this point, we can only say that we definitely don’t want to make a film adaptation of the game. We want to tell a story in the world of Cyberpunk, but it won’t be a one-to-one translation of the game’s story.

This approach isn't necessarily surprising. Cyberpunk 2077's Night City is a major part of the game's appeal, and players are given a fair amount of agency in shaping V and the particulars of V's story. Not only that, but Keanu Reeves' Johnny Silverhand is a crucial part of V's arc, and there is no guarantee that Reeves would be willing to reprise his role in the movie.

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Plus, CD Projekt Red has already found success in departing from one-to-one adaptations of the Cyberpunk 2077 story. Cyberpunk Edgerunners, an animated miniseries that premiered on Netflix in 2022, tells new stories set in the world of the game and was widely acclaimed by both critics and audiences.

Also working in favor of Paramount and CD Projekt Red's approach to the Cyberpunk 2077 movie is the recent success of Resident Evil (2026). The Zack Cregger film does not directly adapt any of the popular Resident Evil games and instead tells an original story set within that familiar world.

Though Cregger's approach has been somewhat controversial, at least in some corners of the internet, his Resident Evil movie has been an undeniable success. Sporting a 96% score from critics and a 90% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes, the adaptation has so far grossed $325 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Resident Evil movie ever.

Whether Cyberpunk 2077 will be as successful as Resident Evil remains to be seen, but the Paramount and CD Projekt Red collaboration could end up being harder to pull off. Faithfully recreating the world of Cyberpunk, for example, could demand a higher budget than Resident Evil, which was made at an estimated $75 million.

Many questions remain about the Cyberpunk 2077 movie, but the immense popularity of the game does put pressure on the movie adaptation to deliver. The decision not to directly tell V's story could end up being divisive, but it's too early in the development process to be able to make any judgements about quality, especially with no talent attached.

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