Solomon Reed: the FIA Sleeper Agent of Phantom Liberty
Solomon Reed is the NUSA spy Idris Elba plays in Phantom Liberty, a man his own country left for dead in 2070 who stayed loyal anyway. Here's his history with Songbird, his part in the Dogtown story, and how each ending treats him.
Solomon Reed is a Federal Intelligence Agency agent of the New United States, a former special forces soldier who has spent seven years as a sleeper in Night City waiting for one phone call. In Phantom Liberty that call comes: President Rosalind Myers is stranded in Dogtown, and Reed and V have to get her out, then go after Songbird, the protégé who once tried to have him killed. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
Who is Solomon Reed?#
Reed's database entry calls him one of the best agents the NUSA has, someone who in his prime could have stood next to Morgan Blackhand but never wanted the fame. His record mixes the heroic and the ugly: stopped assassinations and hostage deals on one side, blackmail, sabotage and coups in South American republics on the other. He serves his country, however dirty the work. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
Before the FIA he was a soldier. The Cyberpunk RED Edgerunners Mission Kit places him in a NUSA special operations unit alongside Maine, the crew leader from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, during operations in South America, and says Reed later asked Maine to help build a spy network in Night City, which Maine turned down. (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit)
Reed and Songbird#
When a 19-year-old So Mi broke into a Militech datafort and got herself traced, Reed talked his superiors out of killing her and went to New York to recruit her. When she said no, he told her NetWatch would go after her loved ones without FIA protection. That got her to come. He became her trainer and the closest thing she had to family in the agency. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
What happened to Reed in 2070?#
During the Unification War, Reed led the FIA's spy network in Night City, working mostly against Arasaka. His people were picked off one by one. In 2070 Myers ordered the cell dismantled. The Ten of Swords comic follows his last day: a botched hit on an Arasaka admiral, a rescue of the rookie agent responsible, and Reed giving up his own seat on the extraction so the rookie could leave. With no way out, he asked So Mi for help. (Cyberpunk 2077: Ten of Swords)
She sent him to a maglev train heading south, then sealed the carriage with Arasaka troopers on board. Reed was shot but survived, spent months recovering, and was officially listed as dead, even to people close to him like Alex. Phantom Liberty reveals that Myers ordered the hit because Arasaka demanded Reed's death as a condition of the ceasefire. Reed treats it as part of the job and stays loyal. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
What does Reed do in Phantom Liberty?#
For seven years Reed waited in Night City as a sleeper agent, without pay, so he took work as a bouncer for the fixer Dino Dinovic. After the Space Force One crash, Myers tells V to call him on an old analogue phone in an abandoned restaurant, and the two first meet at a basketball court. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
From there Reed helps Myers escape Dogtown and works with V and Alex to free Songbird from Barghest leader Kurt Hansen. As he learns that the Blackwall is killing So Mi, he promises to help her, but only if she comes in and talks to him. He doesn't believe she will, so he brings a high-end ICEbreaker built to take down a netrunner of her strength. That's the choice V faces at the stadium: Reed's plan or So Mi's. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
What happens to Reed in each ending?#
Reed's fate follows V's choices:
- V sides with Reed and So Mi comes back alive. Reed is moved out of Night City to a desk job training new agents. In 2079, after V's surgery, he offers V work with the FIA. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
- V sides with Reed but kills So Mi at Cynosure. Reed is angry with V and with himself. In a last meeting at the basketball court, he admits V may have made the right call. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
- V sides with So Mi, then hands her over at the spaceport. Reed takes her in, and his later story matches the first outcome. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
- V sides with So Mi all the way. Reed hunts them both and confronts V at the NCX Spaceport. They fight, and Reed dies. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
Why Reed matters#
Reed is what loyalty looks like in Cyberpunk when it isn't rewarded. His country sold him to Arasaka, his protégé carried out the order, and he still answers the phone when Myers calls. Phantom Liberty never tells V whether that makes him admirable or a fool, and the ending V picks is partly an answer to that question. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Solomon Reed in Cyberpunk 2077?
- Solomon Reed is a veteran agent of the NUSA's Federal Intelligence Agency who has been living undercover in Night City since 2070. President Myers calls him in after Space Force One crashes in Dogtown, and he works with V for the rest of Phantom Liberty.
- Who plays Solomon Reed?
- Idris Elba. He provided the voice, face and motion capture for the character.
- Can you kill Solomon Reed?
- Yes. If V sides with Songbird and refuses to hand her over at the NCX Spaceport, Reed and V end up fighting, and Reed dies.
- Should you trust Reed or Songbird?
- Reed is honest with V in a way Songbird isn't, but his loyalty is to the NUSA first. Siding with him can lead to The Tower ending, which removes the Relic at a heavy cost.
- Did Songbird try to kill Reed?
- Yes. In 2070 she trapped him on a maglev train full of Arasaka troopers. He survived, and Phantom Liberty reveals the order came from President Myers as one of Arasaka's ceasefire conditions.
Sources
- GameCyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, CD Projekt Red, 2023
- ComicCyberpunk 2077: Ten of Swords, Dark Horse Comics, September 2023 (digital one-shot)
- BookCyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit, R. Talsorian Games, 2024 (Cyberpunk RED boxed set)
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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