Keanu Reeves wants to return for Cyberpunk 2077's sequel, and creator Mike Pondsmith "has ways to do that"

Celebrity cameos in videogames are hit and miss. Nicki Minaj in Warzone? Big nope for me. Kevin Spacey in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare? Certainly something. But sometimes, it's just perfect. Charlie Cox and Andy Serkis in Expedition 33, for example, or Keanu Reeves and Idris Elba in Cyberpunk 2077. But, for the universe's creator Mike Pondsmith, getting Reeves - "the nicest guy on earth" - play the "incredible jerk" that is Johnny Silverhand felt pretty ironic. Nevertheless, he fell in love with Reeves' bad boy rocker, and would love to see him reprise the role when the sequel rolls around.

"I said, this is really weird, the nicest guy on earth is playing an incredible jerk," Pondsmith says on CD Project Red's latest Cyberpunk 2077 stream. "If Dolan [Pondsmith's daughter] brought Johnny Silverhand home and said 'this is my new boyfriend,' I don't know whether I'd shoot her first, him first, or both of them just to save the disaster. But he's good [as Silverhand] and he likes it! I didn't think he'd ever play a Cyberpunk character again, but I think he got the right Cyberpunk character."

"His Johnny has really grown on me; I like the way he plays Johnny," he continues, noting that the RPG's antagonist isn't just a "jerk; he has all of these elements underneath him that say that he really could be a better person. I was amazed at that, but I liked it. I thought it worked."

Pondsmith was also unaware that Idris Elba had been cast as Solomon Reed in Phantom Liberty, recalling that he asked CDPR if "we were going to get in trouble because that guy looks a lot like Idris Elba - he's probably going to sue. And [CDPR]'s going 'it is Idris.' What? So let me get this straight: you get Keanu Reeves, then you get Idris Elba - what's next, Scarlett Johansson? Scarlett, I have roles for you, you can do anything.

"But two things hit me: [Reeves and Elba] worked really well for the characters. They were actors who wanted to play those characters so they immersed themselves in it and did a great job. Not that long ago I saw that Keanu would like to find a way to come back from the dead and play Johnny again. I have ways to do that, Keanu: contact me."

While I've struggled to really love Cyberpunk 2077, I can't deny that Reeves' performance is absolutely brilliant. He's the voice in your head; the whisper that urges you to do bad things; the petulant child when he doesn't get what he wants. Reeves does an amazing job in pretty much everything he does, but his Silverhand performance is a personal favorite.

If you, like me, just love cruising through grimy streets listening to 'Good Morning Night City' on repeat, we have a list of the best Cyberpunk 2077 mods to keep your adventures fresh. Or, if you're yet to dive into V's tale of violence and woe, check out our Cyberpunk 2077 system requirements guide - it even runs on Switch 2 now; man how times have changed.

Would you like to see Silverhand return in the next Cyberpunk game? Let us know on Discord, and tell us who you'd like to see in some cyberware.