Is Johnny Silverhand in Phantom Liberty?
Yes. Johnny Silverhand is in Phantom Liberty, still living in V's head and still played by Keanu Reeves. He has a smaller part than in the main story, because the expansion belongs to Songbird and Solomon Reed, but his fate is tied to its biggest choice.
Yes, Johnny Silverhand is in Phantom Liberty. The expansion takes place during Act 2 of Cyberpunk 2077, while his engram is still on the Relic in V's head, so he's along for the whole story, and Keanu Reeves plays him again. He's a sideline voice more than a lead this time, but the expansion's new ending decides whether he survives. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
Why he's there#
Phantom Liberty doesn't start a new story for V. It drops into the middle of the old one, during Act 2, when V is already dying from the Relic and Johnny's engram is already overwriting them. That desperation is what Songbird plays on when she first breaks into the chip and offers V a cure. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
So Johnny can't sit this one out. Keanu Reeves returns to voice and play him, as he did in the 2020 base game. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty; Cyberpunk 2077)
What he does in the expansion#
Johnny mostly rides along as V's sardonic company, but his role is shaped by a rival. Songbird, real name Song So Mi, can reach into the Relic herself, and each time she takes over, Johnny is knocked out. He isn't a fan. Before the big decision at the stadium, he makes it plain what he thinks of the choice V is about to make between her and Reed. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
He also gets quieter moments. In Dogtown V can stop with him at the Tree of the Lost, a tree covered in the faces of missing people, and the conversation there brings the two of them closer. On So Mi's path, once she admits her matrix could only ever save one person, Johnny sums it up: she took everyone for a ride, Myers, Hansen, Reed and V. If V hands her over to Reed instead, Johnny is the one who notices her presence in the Relic has gone quiet. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
His relationship with V, which the base game tracks through choices and side jobs, can move during the expansion too. Helping Songbird escape, or honouring her last request, both count. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
The Tower: the ending that removes him#
The expansion's real stakes for Johnny come at the very end. On the paths where So Mi ends up in NUSA hands alive, Reed offers V the cure, and V can accept it when the base game's final choice comes. That unlocks The Tower, a new ending for Cyberpunk 2077. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
In The Tower, V sits with Johnny on a rooftop for a last conversation while waiting for the FIA's aircraft. Johnny knows the operation will erase him. V wakes from a medically induced coma two years later, in 2079, in a military hospital. The Relic is out and V will live, but Johnny is gone, and V's brain can no longer take cyberware. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
Interpretation: that makes The Tower the bleakest ending for Johnny. In the base game's endings he either takes V's body, crosses the Blackwall with Alt, or is cut out by Arasaka. Here he is simply deleted so V can go on living. (Cyberpunk 2077; Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
Read more#
Phantom Liberty story covers the whole plot, and the Phantom Liberty endings page has every outcome, including The Tower. Johnny Silverhand has his fate in each base game ending. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty; Cyberpunk 2077)
Frequently asked questions
- Does Keanu Reeves return in Phantom Liberty?
- Yes. Keanu Reeves voices and plays Johnny Silverhand again in Phantom Liberty, as he did in the 2020 base game.
- When does Phantom Liberty happen in Cyberpunk 2077?
- During Act 2 of the main story, while V is still carrying the Relic and Johnny's engram. That's why Johnny is with V for the whole expansion.
- What happens to Johnny in the Tower ending?
- He's gone. In The Tower, the ending Phantom Liberty adds to the base game, NUSA surgeons remove the Relic, and Johnny is erased along with it. He says goodbye to V on a rooftop before the operation.
- Can you play Phantom Liberty without Johnny?
- No. Johnny is part of V's situation throughout, though he is silenced for stretches whenever Songbird takes over the Relic.
Sources
- GameCyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, CD Projekt Red, 2023
- GameCyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red, 2020
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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