WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Altered Carbon: Resleeved, now streaming on Netflix.
Altered Carbon: Resleeved reminds us just how deadly Takeshi Kovacs is as the Last Envoy. It deals with him protecting a young tattoo artist, Holly, from the Tech Ninjas who want to kill her for unearthing secrets about the Mitsumoto Yakuza. And make no mistake, he's all game for the bloodshed that ensues to help grant him that clean slate he's been looking for.
Eventually, Tak finishes the job with the help of Gena, a C.T.A.C. officer who wants to ensure the Yakuza's civil war doesn't affect the Protectorate. But when he goes to his employer, Tanaseda Hideki, for payment after completing the mission, the anime film cleverly sets up a few directions for a sequel.
Jobs For Mr. Tanaseda
Tak has never been a fan of the Yakuza, but Tanaseda, whose dad started this branch on Latimer, knew the soldier could quell the uprising in his family's sinister society. The deal is that Tanaseda will then clear Tak's records so he can transfer his mind to a body on Harlan's World, a planet Tanaseda co-founded. Tanaseda says not yet, though, as he has a few more jobs in mind.
A sequel, whether it be another movie or an animated series, can focus on the jobs Tak eventually does for Tanaseda, which the criminal boss mentions in Season 2 of the main series. He constantly reminds his goons of Tak's loyalty over two centuries later and reiterates that Tak didn't sell him out, even while being tortured. Seeing that particular mission and what inspired Tak to stay loyal would be interesting. Tanaseda has many enemies, so Tak could well have been the instrument of war he unleashed.
Hunting Familiar Faces
Tak's main goal, however, as seen in Season 1 was to find Quellcrest, his love and the person who brought him into the rebellion. He lost her when his sister, Rei, betrayed the rebels, and in the debut season of Altered Carbon, Tak reunited with Rei on his quest to find Quell. A sequel to Resleeved could look at Tak's journeys before Season 1 of the show began and the people he fought while visiting fellow rebels scattered on various worlds for clues about Quell.
The sequel could also look at Rei hunting Tak, throwing off his mission as she believes he is better off without Quell. Gena's actually Rei in disguise, so whether this sleeve returns or Rei uses another body, it would flip the script by having Tak on the lam from an unseen enemy who knows him well. Seeing Rei trying to scupper Tak's main objective and also kill off rebels after the Protectorate bought her out would really give him a formidable enemy and further solidify their conflict on the TV series.
A New Yakuza
Holly's adamant that she wants to reunite with Tak someday after he frees her from the Yakuza. She's actually an older woman, Margot, in a younger sleeve and holds an affinity for Gena, so the trio could be reunited if Rei's still using that sleeve for the Protectorate. While Tanaseda is back in control of the Yakuza, there are still insurgents out there loyal to the villain of Resleeved, Tanaseda's dad, the Founder, and they'd want the trio dead.
This creates the perfect avenue for the followers to seek revenge as Tak's crew brought the Founder's centuries of deceit and control to a grinding halt. With the Tech Ninjas are almost unassailable, they can return to hunt these enemies down in the name of the Founder as part of a new, deadlier Yakuza. This would make Tanaseda a target, leaving room for that torture session the boss and Tak so often reminisce about on the show.
There's no word yet on whether Altered Carbon: Resleeved will get a sequel, but given the long and complex life Takeshi Kovcas has lived, and everything the new film reveals, there are plenty of exciting things a follow-up could explore.