Johnny Silverhand: Samurai, Alt Cunningham, the 2023 Bombing and Keanu Reeves
The short version
Johnny Silverhand is the Samurai frontman who became a symbol of anti-corporate rebellion in the Cyberpunk tabletop game, and who comes back as a digital engram inside V's head in Cyberpunk 2077. Keanu Reeves plays him.
On this page
Timeline#
- 1988Born Robert John Linder on November 16 in College Station, Texas.
- 2003Samurai signs with Universal after a producer sees them play in Night City.
- 2008Samurai breaks up.
- 2012Johnny and Kerry Eurodyne buy the Grand Illusion club.
- 2013Alt Cunningham is taken by Arasaka. Johnny leads an assault on Arasaka Tower with Samurai playing a free show outside.
- 2023On August 20, Johnny joins a Militech-backed strike on the Arasaka Towers. A nuclear device goes off and he dies. The blast ends the fighting in Night City.
- 2077His engram, copied to a Relic prototype, wakes up in V's head.
The tabletop Johnny#
Johnny Silverhand is a rockerboy first, a guitar with a grudge. In the Cyberpunk tabletop game by Mike Pondsmith, the rockerboy is the class that fights the system with music, and Johnny is the one who defined it: a former U.S. soldier who lost an arm in the Second Central American War and got the silver cybernetic replacement that gave him his nickname.
He fronted Samurai, founded with Kerry Eurodyne. The band signed with Universal in 2003, topped the charts, and broke up in 2008. Johnny's anti-corporate stance made the government call him a terrorist.
Alt, Arasaka Tower and the bombing#
In 2013, Arasaka kidnapped his girlfriend Alt Cunningham, the netrunner who wrote the original Soulkiller program, to rebuild it for them. Johnny assembled Rogue Amendiares, Nomad Santiago and the reporter Lyle Thompson, with Samurai playing a free show out front as cover. The raid failed and Alt was left in the Arasaka mainframe.
On August 20, 2023, during the Fourth Corporate War, Johnny joined a Militech team that attacked the Arasaka Towers in Night City with a nuclear device. Adam Smasher killed him. The nuke went off and the Night City Holocaust followed. Our read: the man who wanted to burn Arasaka down got one very large match.
Keanu Reeves and the 2077 Johnny#
CD Projekt Red approached Keanu Reeves in July 2018 and he was revealed in the role at E3 2019. His performance was recorded with motion capture, and CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwiński has said Johnny's dialogue count is second only to V's.
Reeves returned for Phantom Liberty. The Samurai songs are sung by Dennis Lyxzén.
Spoilers Johnny in 2077
A copy of Johnny's engram sits in a prototype Relic that Yorinobu Arasaka stole. When V puts it in their head, it begins overwriting V's mind. Johnny is the voice in V's head, sometimes a playable character in flashbacks like Love Like Fire and Never Fade Away, and sometimes the man in the driver's seat.
His story runs through Chippin' In, Holdin' On with Kerry, and Blistering Love, where V takes Rogue to a drive-in on his behalf. In Nocturne Op55N1 V decides whether Johnny gets the body, goes to Mikoshi, or leaves.
Endings recap: in Temperance, Johnny keeps V's body and leaves Night City for good. He goes beyond the Blackwall with Alt only in The Star and The Sun. In The Devil he dies when the Relic is removed, and in The Tower the surgery deletes him. See the endings for the requirements.
Skip the hero worship#
Opinion: the fun of Johnny is that he has the right politics and the wrong methods, and V is always the one who pays. Treat him as the friend who is correct and still ruins the evening.
Know the 2020 version before you judge him. In the tabletop game he is a legend who is already dead, and the 2077 game turns that around. Rogue Amendiares, Alt Cunningham and Kerry Eurodyne knew him, and Adam Smasher killed him.
Watch#
Explore#
- Official
Questions people ask#
Who plays Johnny Silverhand?
Keanu Reeves does the speaking, recorded with motion capture, and Dennis Lyxzén sings the Samurai songs.
What is Johnny Silverhand's real name?
Robert John Linder. The Silverhand nickname comes from the silver cybernetic arm he got after losing one in the Second Central American War.
Who killed Johnny Silverhand?
Adam Smasher, on August 20, 2023, during an attack on the Arasaka Towers in Night City. The nuke went off anyway, and the Night City Holocaust followed.
Is Johnny Silverhand in the Cyberpunk tabletop game?
Yes, since the 2013 edition. In the tabletop he is a legend who is already dead, and the 2077 game turns that around. Cyberpunk 2020 has his adventure, Never Fade Away.
Can you romance Johnny in Cyberpunk 2077?
No. He is not a romance option, and the romance options page lists who is.
Why is Johnny in V's head?
Spoiler: A copy of his engram sits in a prototype Relic that Yorinobu Arasaka stole. When V puts it in their head, it begins overwriting V's mind.