Westworld co-creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan are behind the Amazon series The Peripheral, an adaptation of the William Gibson novel with Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass, Shadow In The Cloud) and Irish actor Jack Reynor (Midsommar, Free Fire) set to play the show’s leads.
The William Gibson novel centers on Flynne (Grace Moretz) and her brother Burton (Reynor). Burton, a veteran of the United States Marine Corps’ elite Haptic Recon force, is hired for a security job which takes place in what he thinks is cyberspace. When Flynne temporarily takes his place, she witnesses something that might have been murder.
The Ronin can confirm that the Amazon series has indeed enlisted production designer Jan Reolfs, who is likely best known for working on the gorgeous box office disaster Ghost In The Shell starring Scarlett Johansson, the Keanu Reeves fantasy film 47 Ronin loosely inspired by Japanese historical events, and Universal’s massive blockbuster F9 that is about cross $300 million at the global box office before it’s domestic debut later this week.
Having previously tackled the world of cyberpunk with Ghost In Shell, it would suggest The Peripheral is going to look stunning. Hopefully, it will be a stronger and compelling adaptation than the 2017 film from director Rupert Sanders.
Production will take place around London with Vincenzo Natali set to direct the show’s pilot. Natali’s extensive credits include The Stand, Westworld, American Gods, The Strain, Lost In Space, Locke & Key, Luke Cage, Hannibal, Orphan Black, Splice, and Cube.
Gibson, alongside Philip K. Dick, is considered one of the fathers of the cyberpunk genre. Dick’s work, of course, inspired feature films such as Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall. The Peripheral isn’t the only William Gibson adaptation in the works as we’ve previously reported that Luther creator Neil Cross is looking to turn his novel Pattern Recognition into a project as well and has yet to be officially announced.
Lisa Joy is making her feature film directorial debut with the Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson dystopian cyberpunk film Reminiscence, which will hit both theaters and HBO Max on August 20.
REMINISCENCE – Nick Bannister (Jackman), a private investigator of the mind, navigates the darkly alluring world of the past by helping his clients access lost memories. Living on the fringes of the sunken Miami coast, his life is forever changed when he takes on a new client, Mae (Ferguson). A simple matter of lost and found becomes a dangerous obsession. As Bannister fights to find the truth about Mae’s disappearance, he uncovers a violent conspiracy, and must ultimately answer the question: how far would you go to hold on to the ones you love?
THE RONIN 