William Gibson’s futuristic look at mankind is coming to television, thanks to the producers of Westworld.
Updated 12/10/22: Amazon Studios deliver a full trailer for The Peripheral.
With the show’s debut less than a fortnight away, Prime Video have granted us a longer look into the virtual world of The Peripheral…
“I thought I was playing a sim.”
This second trailer showcases more of the show’s futuristic, virtual London setting. It also doubles down on the action sequences, from car chases to physical combat.
There’s also an expanded synopsis for the show too:
Flynne Fisher (Chloe Grace Moretz), her Marine veteran brother, Burton (Jack Reynor), and their dying mother live in a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains in 2032. As their mother’s health deteriorates and the medical bills add up, Flynne and Burton make extra money playing simulations (“Sims”). The two siblings share Burton’s avatar, “jockeying” for high-paying customers to beat challenging game levels.
When Burton is offered a chance to beta test a new Sim, it’s Flynne who ends up playing, pretending to be her brother. The Sim takes place in London and it tasks Flynne with breaking into a corporation known as the Research Institute—to steal a valuable secret. When the assignment goes wrong, Flynne begins to realize the Sim is more real than she ever could have imagined. The London she’s exploring exists in the future… the year 2099. And what Flynne has uncovered in the Research Institute has put her and her family in grave peril. There are people from the future who want to use Flynne for the information she’s stolen… and there are others who want Flynne dead.
Flynne encounters Wilf (Gary Carr) in Future London, a man who may be the key to unlocking the mystery at hand. But first, in her present, Flynne and Burton, along with his former elite military unit, must rally to save themselves from forces intent on killing them—forces sent from the future to reclaim the vital secret Flynne stole.
The Peripheral lands at Prime Video on October 21st, with episodes released weekly on Fridays.
Original article follows:
The Peripheral – Prime drop a first teaser for their new sci-fi drama
The start of September truly has been trailer season, with Marvel and Star Wars news all around.
They’re not the only game in town though, as Prime Video has revealed a first look at their adaption of The Peripheral. A 2014 novel by the visionary author writer William Gibson, the story follows a young woman who witnesses a murder within a virtual world.
The show, which we first reported on in 2020, stars Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass), with JJ Field (Captain America: The First Avenger), T’Nia Miller (Years and Years) and Charlotte Riley (Peaky Blinders) also in the cast.
Here’s the premise for The Peripheral:
The Peripheral centres on Flynne Fisher (Moretz), a woman trying to hold together the pieces of her broken family in a forgotten corner of tomorrow’s America. Flynne is smart, ambitious, and doomed. She has no future; until the future comes calling for her. The Peripheral is master storyteller William Gibson’s dazzling, hallucinatory glimpse into the fate of mankind—and what lies beyond.
“You think this is a game. But it’s real. It just hasn’t happened yet.”
Immersive and mysterious, with slick visuals to boot, we’re predicting this to be our next obsession at CultBox Towers. Having enthusiastically consumed Upload, we’re looking forward to something more gritty in the virtual world(s).
The remainder of the cast include Jack Reynor (Midsommar), Gary Carr, Eli Goree, Louis Herthum (Westworld), Alexandra Billings, Adelind Horan, Alex Hernandez, Katie Leung (Chimerica), Julian Moore-Cook (Peaky Blinders), Melinda Page Hamilton, Chris Coy and Austin Rising.
The show has the endorsement of William Gibson himself, who tweeted the trailer out thus:
And, after quite a wait for some of us, and still very much to my delighted amazement, we have… https://t.co/tUcpC6U96K
— William Gibson (@GreatDismal) September 8, 2022
Westworld connections
The Peripheral comes from Amazon Studios and Warner Bros Television, in association with Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan’s Kilter Films. The creator and showrunner is Scott B. Smith (A Simple Plan) and the director is Vincenzo Natali (In the Tall Grass). They both executive produce, along with Nolan and Joy, as do Athena Wickham and Steven Hoban.
Running across eight episodes, the show premieres on October 21st. Subsequent episodes drop weekly on Fridays until December 9th.