Neuromancer gave us the universe of cyberpunk (hitek dystopia) and now will arrive on your streaming screen thanks to Apple+. The TV series is adapted from the famed William Gibson novel, and will air on Apple TV+. The streamer ordered 10 episodes.
The series will be led by showrunner, writer, and producer Graham Roland, who was best known as the creator of the AMC TV series Dark Winds and for helming the spy series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime Video. Roland will share a co-creator credit on Neuromancer with J.D. Dillard, a TV writer known for his work on the recent Twilight Zone reboot series.
The show will be produced by Skydance Television and Anonymous Content, both of which Apple has worked with before; Skydance previously produced Apple’s series based on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series of books and the Netflix hit Reacher, and Anonymous Content produced The Savant and Time Bandits. Apple only makes a few shows a year but they make memorable choices, especially with Science Fiction: Foundation, For All Mankind, Silo, Invasion, Monarch, and Constellation.
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.”
The book is one of the most acclaimed works of all science fiction and is credited with kicking off the cyberpunk sub-genre, hot again today thanks to the video game Cyberpunk 2077, along with other popular properties, and the appearance of real AI.
“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.”
The debut novel by William Gibson, Neuromancer has been praised as one of the first and most-respected works within the cyberpunk genre and has received multiple accolades, including the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award and the Hugo Award. It’s the story of Case, an out-of-work hacker who is hired to stop an out-of-control AI called Neuromancer.
The novel served as the first book in the “Sprawl” trilogy and was followed by “Count Zero” and “Mona Lisa Overdrive.” Its been turned into a video game, a graphic novel, and is reportedly being made into a movie as well. The Matrix is very influenced by Gibson, including the movie’s title. Amazon adapted another Gibson novel — The Peripheral — into a high-rated live-action streaming series. His 1981 short story, Johnny Mnemonic, which is set in the same world as Neuromancer and also introduces cyberassassin Molly Millions, was previously adapted into a 1995 film starring Keanu Reeves.
Gibson said that he was involved in the Apple+ production, reading scripts and making suggestions. It will be intriguing to see how the original cyberpunk is updated and adapted.
-30-
David Raiklen wrote, directed and scored his first film at age 9. He began studying keyboard and composing at age 5. He attended, then taught at UCLA, USC and CalArts. Among his teachers are John Williams and Mel Powel.
He has worked for Fox, Disney and Sprint. David has received numerous awards for his work, including the 2004 American Music Center Award. Dr. Raiklen has composed music and sound design for theater (Death and the Maiden), dance (Russian Ballet), television (Sing Me a Story), cell phone (Spacey Movie), museums (Museum of Tolerance), concert (Violin Sonata ), and film (Appalachian Trail).
His compositions have been performed at the Hollywood Bowl and the first Disney Hall. David Raiken is also host of a successful radio program, Classical Fan Club.
