Amazon has officially ordered its adaptation of William Gibson’s 2014 novel The Peripheral to series, with Scott B. Smith and Westworld showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy producing, according to Variety.
Joy and Nolan are both known for their work creating HBO’s Westworld, and in April 2018, brought their adaptation of Gibson’s novel to Amazon Studios. According to The Hollywood Reporter, they earned a script-to-series order, “meaning that should the script for the drama come in well, it would be picked up straight to series rather than going through the traditional pilot process.” Earlier this year, the pair signed a major overall deal with the studio, meaning that they would produce other original shows for the streaming service. That script seems to have come in nicely, as Amazon has officially greenlit the series, and Joy and Nolan say that “35 years ago, William Gibson invented the future. With The Peripheral he brings us another look, and his vision is as clear, intoxicating, and terrifying as ever.”
Gibson’s novel is set in two time periods: the near future, and another future that’s decades off. The story follows Flynne Fisher, who works at a print shop, and takes over a virtual world security gig from her brother, a Marine veteran who’s dealing with neurological damage. While in the virtual world, she witnesses what she thinks is a murder, and stumbles upon a connection between her world and one set decades later, where London publicist Wilf Netherton lives.
https://reactormag.com/2014/10/27/book-review-the-peripheral-william-gibson/
The series pickup is the latest major adaptation from the studio, which is set to release a show set in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, as well as The Wheel of Time, Tales from the Loop, The Expanse, The Power, and others. Adaptations of Larry Niven’s Ringworld, Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, and Iain M. Banks’ Culture series are also in development.
Amazon hasn’t revealed when The Peripheral will begin production, who will be cast in the series, or when it will premiere on its streaming platform.
I’m optimistic, in that The Peripheral is one of my favorite books of the last 10 years. Really brilliant and mindblowing.
I’m pessimistic, in that The Agency, the long-delayed prequel, was panned by Publisher’s Weekly. And Gibson himself said that he didn’t want to do sequels in the same universe(s), as it would cheapen the concept. If they can keep it to just the two worldlines, work within that structure, there’s a possibility of a series. If they have the worldline of the week, it’ll devolve into Sliders.
Frankly, I think there’s more to be mined from the Blue Ant trilogy.
Another parallel timeline show? If I were the producers, I’d worry about being seen as one trick ponies haha.
This could be interesting. I think they would deal well with the near future meth empire. The far future decadent civilization was drawn more fuzzily to me and I can’t wait to see how it is visualized. I do hope they use fashion and manners to show the difference between locales.
@1 Agency is a sequel, not a prequel. Also I read it and really dug it!
So why does everybody want to just skip over the Sprawl trilogy? I like pretty much everything Gibson has done but nothing really matches that.
Wait, some people have read Agency? I thought it isn’t being released until January 2020? Regardless, The Peripheral was great, but it felt much more like an action film than his other works. I think the Blue Ant trilogy is great literature, but would be very difficult to adapt. Its very much set in the contemporary time it was released, and a lot of the great parts about it aren’t anything necessarily visual or adaptable to screen.