While Apple TV’s upcoming sci-fi show is set to be exciting, its connections with The Matrix franchise make this series truly unmissable viewing. Although Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner wasn’t a big box office success when it was originally released in 1982, this cyberpunk noir has become one of the genre’s most influential titles ever. Scott’s 1982 adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? shaped the decade’s sci-fi, paving the way for some of the cyberpunk genre’s most acclaimed novels.
Although The Matrix trilogy was heavily inspired by the cyberpunk genre as a whole, one seminal novel was a particularly significant influence on the franchise. Ironically, despite various failed attempts to mount a movie since its original 1984 publication, this iconic book never received a screen adaptation. That is, until Apple TV announced an ambitious, star-studded version of the legendary book, set to arrive on the streaming service later in 2026.
Set in the near future, William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer follows Case, an amoral hacker who is locked out of “The Matrix,” a cyberspace where many humans spend most of their time, after his shadowy employers catch him stealing from them. When the mysterious “razorgirl” Molly offers Case a chance at returning to the Matrix, this comes with a price. Case must help her and a motley crew of criminals pull off an ambitious heist if he is to secure access to the Matrix once more.
Neuromancer’s Apple TV Adaptation Can Be An All-Time Great Sci-fi Show
If those plot points sound familiar, that is likely because Neuromancer was not only a huge influence on The Matrix movies but was also massively influenced in turn by film noir and hard-boiled detective fiction. While William Gibson’s sci-fi novel is as immersive and detailed as any space opera, its tone is closer to a gritty, cynical private eye story. Like Altered Carbon and the Blade Runner movies, Neuromancer is a noir that happens to be set in a technologically advanced dystopian city.
As such, Apple TV’s upcoming Neuromancer adaptation has the opportunity to be a truly memorable and original series that mixes mystery thriller plotting with stunning sci-fi visuals. A significant influence on Ghost in the Shell as well as The Matrix, Neuromancer itself was shaped by William S. Burroughs’ surreal masterpiece Naked Lunch, meaning the book is infamous for flitting between reality and cyberspace so often and fluidly that many readers can’t immediately discern the difference.
Neuromancer was written at a time when online virtual reality spaces were a distant dream, meaning Gibson’s vision of a cyberspace that is just as corrupt and shady as the real world was shockingly prescient in retrospect. With a buzzy cast including Mark Strong, Clemence Poesy, and Masters of the Air’s Callum Turner as Case and The Inheritance’s Briana Middleton as Molly, Neuromancer is the latest Apple TV show to signal the streaming service’s emerging dominance in the genre.
Neuromancer Cements Apple TV’s Most Surprising Trend
MovieStillsDBWhen Apple TV first launched, expensive star-studded dramas like The Morning Show and dramedies like Ted Lasso and Tried seemed like they would be the streaming service’s biggest selling point. However, within only a year or two, it became obvious that Apple TV’s true focus lay in the sci-fi genre. For All Mankind‘s 2019 premiere was an early hint, while Foundation‘s 2021 debut cemented this trend.
Although Prime Video has The Expanse, and Netflix has Black Mirror, Apple TV’s focus on ambitious big-budget sci-fi only became more evident as it continued producing new shows. 2022 introduced Severance, while 2023 brought acclaimed shows like Silo. The same year saw the start of Monsterverse’s small-screen spinoff Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and now Neuromancer‘s noir spin on<em>The Matrix further cements Apple TV’s genre dominance.
