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Just when audiences are feeling way too much at home in Westworld, series creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy built a new world for us to navigate in The Peripheral based on the book by science fiction legend William Gibson, the visionary who invented the word “cyberspace.”

The new Prime Video series The Peripheral follows Flynne Fisher (Chloë Grace Moretz) a young gamer working a dead-end job in a 3D printing shop in rural America in the near future. When Flynne’s brother Burton (Jack Reynor) asks her to take over his shift beta-testing what she thinks is a video game, she witnesses a murder and later realizes that she wasn’t, after all, playing a drone-piloting simulation game — she was really piloting a real drone in real-time in the real dystopian London of the 22nd century.

Which lands Flynne and her brother in real trouble. The sole witness to a murder, Flynne must help characters in the future to find the killer before they kill her family. To do this, Flynne must go to the future via a peripheral which is not a dongle or a mouse or a printer but a body-for-hire, “an anthropomorphic drone... a telepresence avatar” that Flynne can control remotely via a headset.

While we’re all by now familiar with virtual gaming, time-jumping, parallel worlds, dystopia, and the deployment of drones and avatars, Gibson’s worlds are always thrilling to behold. Haptics control soldiers. Tattoos move on the skin. Assassins wear invisibility squidsuits. Otherwise, docile robot Michikoids sprout spider-eyes whenever attacked. Plenty of technology to marvel at and even more ways for Kick-Ass actress Moretz to kick ass.

the peripheral
Image via Prime Video

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When Is The Release Date of The Peripheral?

The Peripheral premieres with one episode on Prime Video on October 21, 2022. After that, new episodes become available every Friday until December 9.

Watch The Trailer of The Peripheral

The trailer begins with Flynne Fisher living in a small town where she works in a small 3D printing shop. “Your skills and personality are being sadly wasted in this den of imbecility,” says her co-worker. “Like it or not, this here’s the only world that I’ve got,” Flynne answers.

Flynne’s small world includes her military veteran brother Burton who lives in a trailer park van. One day, Burton shows her a cyberpunk-inspired headset which he says is “the future.” When Flynne puts it on and shuts her eyes, she is transported to the dystopian London of the 22nd century, its streets and buildings sleek but empty, crumbling, and full of danger. “Holy Sh*!” Flynn exclaims after trying on the headset, believing she’s just played a mind-blowing game.

It’s not a game though. “You’re inside what we call a Peripheral,” Flynne is told by the beleaguered PR man Wilf Netherton (Gary Carr) who reaches out to Flynne from the future. “You think this is a game, but it’s real. It just hasn’t happened yet.” Flynne soon learns just how real and thrilling this future world is. As dangerous as it is wondrous — with a faceless robot cab driver, a goth-like woman with a moving tattoo, a car cloaked in invisibility, a Michikoid robot serving sushi, a sonic blasting gun, and mysterious villains. And that is just the trailer that promises more by flaunting the series's credentials: “From the mind-bending creators of Westworld” and “Based on the visionary novel by William Gibson.”

The full trailer for The Peripheral was released on October 8, 2022, giving us an even better look at inside the aforementioned 'Peripheral' and a better glimpse at all the stunning visuals and action that the series will entail.

Who Is In The Cast of The Peripheral?

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Image via Prime Video

From the looks of the star-studded ensemble cast, it looks like The Peripheral will bring to life Gibson’s wide range of characters. Chloë Grace Moretz who plays Flynne Fisher is drawing praise from the great Gibson himself. He wrote on Twitter,

Moretz starred in another science fiction movie Mother/Android and memorably played lead roles in Suspiria and The Miseducation of Cameron Post.

Jack Reynor (Midsommar) plays Flynne’s brother Burton. Gary Carr (The Deuce) plays the publicity guy Wilf Netherton who becomes involved in a murder investigation. Alexandra Billings (Transparent) plays Detective Ainsley Lowbeer who works with Flynne to identify the killer.

The cast also includes Eli Goree (One Night in Miami), Louis Herthum (Westworld), JJ Feild (TURN: Washington's Spies), T’Nia Miller (The Haunting of Bly Manor), Charlotte Riley (Peaky Blinders), Adelind Horan (The Deuce), Alex Hernandez (UnReal), Katie Leung (Chimerica), Julian Moore-Cook (Peaky Blinders), Melinda Page Hamilton (Messiah), Chris Coy (The Deuce), Amber Rose Revah (Last Light) and Austin Rising (Alt).

The Peripheral is produced by Amazon Studios and Warner Bros Television, in association with Kilter Films. Executive producers for The Peripheral are creator and showrunner Scott B. Smith (A Simple Plan), director Vincenzo Natali (In the Tall Grass), Greg Plageman (Person of Interest), Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy (Westworld), Athena Wickham (Westworld), and Steven Hoban (In the Tall Grass).

In a joint statement, Nolan and Joy said: “Thirty-five years ago, William Gibson invented the future. With The Peripheral he brings us another look, and his vision is as clear, intoxicating, and terrifying as ever.” The Peripheral is Amazon Studios’ first project with Nolan, Joy, and Kilter Films. “This story calls for a masterful level of talent to bring acclaimed author William Gibson’s science fiction thriller to life,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios.

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What Is The Peripheral About?

the-peripheral
Image via Prime Video

The official synopsis reads:

Flynne Fisher (Chloe Grace Moretz) lives in the rural American South, working at the local 3D printing shop, while earning much needed extra money playing VR games for rich people. One night she dons a headset and finds herself in futuristic London—a sleek and mysterious world, alluringly different from her own hardscrabble existence. But this isn’t like any game she’s ever played before: Flynne begins to realize it isn’t virtual reality… it’s real. Someone in London, seventy years in the future, has found a way to open a door to Flynne’s world. And as utterly beguiling as London is… it’s also dangerous. As Flynne searches to discover who has connected their worlds, and for what purpose, her presence here sets dangerous forces into motion…forces intent on destroying Flynne and her family in her own world. The Peripheral is master storyteller William Gibson’s dazzling, hallucinatory glimpse into the fate of mankind — and what lies beyond.