Yesterday, it was announced by Apple that they’ll be working with Skydance Television and Anonymous Content on finally moving forward with a streaming series incarnation of the cyberpunk novel “Neuromancer” authored by American-Canadian writer William Gibson, who is considered a godfather of the sci-fi subgenre that marries noir, advanced computer technology, and dystopian elements. Sort of taking things that fellow writer Philip K. Dick was doing with his mind-bending sci-fi stories and the aesthetics of Ridley Scott’s first “Blade Runner” movie into a full-on sci-fi setting that would later influence everything from video games like “Cyberpunk 2077,” movies like “The Matrix,” and plenty of other works of fiction.

In Apple’s announcement about the series, they’ve secured director JD Dillard to helm the show’s pilot, and Graham Roland (“Jack Ryan”) is set as the show’s creator/showrunner.

“We’re incredibly excited to be bringing this iconic property to Apple TV+,” said creators and executive producers Roland and Dillard. “Since we became friends nearly 10 years ago, we’ve looked for something to team up on, so this collaboration marks a dream come true. ‘Neuromancer’ has inspired so much of the science fiction that’s come after it and we’re looking forward to bringing television audiences into Gibson’s definitive ‘cyberpunk’ world.”

Here is the synopsis for the show directly from Apple:

The series will follow a damaged, top-rung super-hacker named Case who is thrust into a web of digital espionage and high-stakes crime with his partner Molly, a razor-girl assassin with mirrored eyes aiming to pull a heist on a corporate dynasty with untold secrets.

Dillard is likely best known for the WWII film “Devotion” which starred Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell as U.S. pilots and had once been attached to direct a mystery “Star Wars” movie for Lucasfilm before it just vanished into thin air. This isn’t the first big sci-fi series for Apple based on an iconic string of books as their popular show “Foundation” is an adaptation of the Isaac Asimov property and also hails from Skydance Television. Gibson’s ‘The Peripheral‘ had been previously turned into a series at Amazon Prime Video with Chloe Grace Moretz and Jack Reynor starring.

Last year, there was a rumor that Miles Teller (“Top Gun: Maverick”) was being eyed to play Case, but that has yet to be made official. At one point, director Tim Miller (“Deadpool”) had been trying to make a feature film incarnation at 20th Century Fox around the time he dropped out of making “Deadpool 2” but that never really materialized.  Based on the 1984 Gibson book, it’s part of the “Sprawl” trilogy and was followed by “Count Zero” and “Mona Lisa Overdrive.” This gives Apple plenty of source material from Gibson if they want to keep the cyberpunk series going beyond the first story.

Amazon is also working on its own high-profile cyberpunk streaming series with “Blade Runner 2099” which recently landed “Shogun” director Jonathan van Tulleken.

SOURCE: APPLE