Neuromancer TV Series might be coming to the screens – the legendary science fiction novel by William Gibson is probably going to debut on Apple TV in 2023.
After numerous false starts and failed attempts, it appears that William Gibson‘s genre-defining cyberpunk novel Neuromancer (and possibly the entire Sprawl Trilogy, if all goes well) will be adapted for the big screen ad a new and upcoming Neuromancer TV Series. Gibson’s 1984 novel is without a doubt one of the most influential and iconic sci-fi books ever written: one of the founding texts of the cyberpunk genre, the book that gave us the term “cyberspace” (seriously), and an influence on a whole generation of sci-fi media, from Max Headroom to The Matrix.
Despite numerous attempts dating back to the late 1980s, it has proven strangely difficult to adapt to the screen for reasons fans have never fully understood. Many people thought the Neuromancer TV seres would never see the light of the day: the novel couldn’t be adapted because so much of it takes place in Gibson’s virtual-reality realm of cyberspace, which would have been difficult to transfer to the screen before CGI was available. But that hasn’t been a problem for a long time, and yet every attempt has failed for one reason or another.
According to a new report (which has not yet been confirmed by the studio, so take this with a grain of salt), Apple TV will start shooting Neuromancer TV series in 2023, finally ending decades of preproduction hell. According to the report, William Gibson will also produce the Neuromancer TV series, while Graham Roland (Jack Reacher, Lost) will be a co-producer.
It’s also a very good sign that Gibson is involved as an executive producer – a title that, hopefully, will be more than honorary, and will mean that he’s on board to both protect his universe and guide how it’s updated. Because, the universe he created and that will be showcased in Neuromancer TV series will undoubtedly require updating.
While a lot of its predictions (cyberspace, VR, digital data being the ultimate commodity, etc.) were very accurate and prophetic, some were a bit off the mark, and it would be really interesting to see how Gibson might alter the story to work in a 2023 world (which, let’s be honest, is already a techno-dystopian hell in a lot of ways, except without the cool cyberpunk fashions).
Neuromancer TV series has yet to cast any of its other leads, most notably the female lead, the cyber-enhanced assassin Molly, who was cited as a direct influence on The Matrix’s Trinity by The Wachowski Sisters. Apple TV is looking to cast Molly as the one carryover character who will continue on to seasons 2 and 3 if the show is successful, which is a major indicator of the studio’s intentions (again, without citing any sources, so take that for what you will).
This means that the Neuromancer TV Series will be a one-season story, followed by adaptations of the Sprawl Trilogy’s two other novels, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive, as seasons 2 and 3. The trilogy is a loose one: three novels set in the same world, but not direct sequels in the sense that they don’t follow the same characters from book to book.
Each book has a different cast of characters, with protagonists recurring and popping up throughout, and Molly is one of the main ones, as well as one of the most memorable and iconic personalities in Gibson’s universe. The Sprawl series includes three short stories, Johnny Mnemonic, Burning Chrome, and New Rose Hotel, in addition to the novels, so if the Neuromancer TV series is a success, Apple TV and Graham Roland will have plenty of source material to work with.
The Sprawl is a dystopian future Earth where governments have largely collapsed and the world is ruled by corporations and crime syndicates; where data is the ultimate currency and people are artificially enhanced, in both body and brain. When you die, your consciousness can be uploaded to cyberspace, where you can live (in a way) forever as an AI ghost in the machine. Cyberspace is a virtual-reality realm that you access through a port in your skull.
The main character of Neuromancer TV Series, is Case, a down-and-out hacker in this cyberpunk dystopia who is just desperate enough to be recruited by Molly and a mysterious man named Armitage for a high-stakes, high-reward cyber heist and espionage job. But not everything is as it appears, and Case and Molly quickly find themselves in over their heads in a labyrinthine plot spanning both the criminal and corporate worlds, leading them across the entire Sprawl, not to mention the darkest corners of cyberspace itself.
It’s a dense novel with a lot of great world-building and an episodic structure that gradually builds up to a larger plot. It would be difficult to adapt well as a single film (hence the only two film adaptations set in Gibson’s Sprawl that have actually gotten made: Johnny Mnemonic and New Rose Hotel), but it would be ideal for a big-budget streaming series.
The Neuromancer TV series appears to be cementing 2022 and 2023 as a period of resurgence for William Gibson and his brand of cyberpunk: Amazon Prime’s adaptation of another of Gibson’s (non-Sprawl-related) cyberpunk works, The Peripheral, has been quite successful.
© Neuromancer TV Series To Hit The Screens – Artespana.es
Get some more Valencia Art News like Neuromancer TV Series
