Upcoming cyberpunk TV show Neuromancer has a huge reputation to live up to, and Apple TV+ given us a tiny glimpse at what to expect.
AppleTV+ has a rather good sci-fi selection already, but it’s in the process of adding another title to its library that is one of the foundational stories in futuristic fiction. Neuromancer is adapted from the book of the same name by William Gibson, and along with Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, is largely credited with birthing the cyberpunk genre.
Cyberpunk has continued to flourish in these past few years, not least because of CD Projekt Red’s enormously successful videogame, Cyberpunk 2077, itself adapted from a tabletop role-playing game that like Neuromancer and Blade Runner, launched in the 1980s. While CDPR are also developing a Cyberpunk 2077 live action TV show along with Anonymous Content, it feels appropriate that Gibson’s seminal novel will arrive on our screens first, given that the story introduced concepts such as shared virtual spaces, AI and cybercrime, ideas that wouldn’t just inform the direction of the genre, but also predict the future of human civilisation.
Production on the show has been ongoing in Japan since the beginning of the year, with the cast including Callum Turner as the hacker protagonist Case, Briana Middleton as the cybernetically-enhanced mercenary, Molly, and Mark Strong as Armitage, a shady ex-military guy who has the pair attempt to pull of a high-tech heist. Joseph Lee, Peter Sarsgaard and Clemence Poesy will also appear as will Dane DeHaan as Peter Riviera.
Those familiar with the story will recall Chatsubo, an ex-patriate bar in Japan frequented by Case. The show’s take on that bar can be glimpsed in the teaser released by the studio. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan showrunner Graham Roland will serve the same leading role on Neuromancer.
We don’t yet have a release date but when we do, we’ll let you know.
