Since the mid-1980s, William Gibson has set a precedent for heady SF novels, with “Neuromancer” and its “Sprawl” trilogy being the ur-texts of cyberpunk. So, how have William Gibson‘s novels never crossed over to movies and TV? Maybe because Gibson’s speculative fiction is too hard to translate to a broad appeal. After all, only two of Gibson’s short stories have made it to the big screen: 1995’s dismal “Johnny Mnemonic” and Abel Ferrara‘s underrated corporate raider tale “New Rose Hotel” from 1998.
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Well, Gibson fans, the wait is over. “The Peripheral,” a series based on Gibson’s 2014 novel, the first in his current “Jackpot” trilogy, hits Amazon Prime Video this Fall. And Amazon has two of the leading names in TV SF on board for the series: “Westworld” creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan. Set in a dystopian near-future US, Chloë Grace Moretz stars as Flynne Fisher, a woman whose family and future have fallen apart. But when she sees something she’s not supposed to while working a VR gig for her brother, the future comes calling, and her world gets a startling upgrade.
“The Peripheral” boasts a massive ensemble cast, no surprise given Gibson’s narratives. Jake Reynor, Gary Carr, Eli Goree, Louis Herthum, JJ Feild, T’Nia Miler, and Charlotte Riley lead the cast with Moretz. Alexandra Billings, Adelind Horan, Alex Hernandez, Katie Leung, and Julian Moore-Cook also star in the new series. Melina Page Hamilton, Chris Coy, and Austin Rising round out the main cast.
Amazon started development on “The Peripheral” back in early 2018, but Joy and Nolan didn’t get involved with the series until they signed their huge overall deal with Amazon Studios in 2019. However, Joy and Nolan don’t shoulder the load here as they do on “Westworld.” “The Burnt Orange Heresy” scribe Scott Smith serves as showrunner, while Vincenzo Natali directs the show’s pilot. Both serve as executive producers with Joy and Nolan, along with Athena Wickman and Steve Hoban.
“The Peripheral” and its sequel, “Agency,” are some of Gibson’s most prescient writing about the near future. So, how faithful with Amazon’s series be to its source material? Let’s hope it’s as close as possible because Gibson deserves to be discovered by a new generation. “The Peripheral” premieres on October 21, exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. Watch the trailer below.
