An adaptation of New York Times bestselling author Willian Gibson’s science fiction novel The Peripheral is currently in the works at Amazon. Kilter Films in association with Warner Bros. Television and Amazon Studios, is set to produce, and the project may receive a straight-to-series order.
In Gibson’s novel, The Peripheral, Flynne Fisher lives down a country road in a rural America where jobs are scarce unless you count illegal drug manufacture, which she’s trying to avoid. Her brother Burton lives on money from the Veterans Administration for neurological damage suffered in the Marine’s elite Haptic Recon unit, while Flynne earns what she can by assembling product at the local 3D printshop. She made more as a combat scout in an online game, playing for a rich man, but she’s had to let the shooter games go. The story follows Flynne in a near future America in which technology has started to subtly alter society. She discovers a hidden connection to a very different reality — and the dark future of her own.
The Peripheral adaptation is written by Scott B. Smith, who will executive produce alongside Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. Vincenzo Natali is set to direct as well as executive produce, with Steven Hoban and Kilter Films’ Athena Wickham serving as additional executive producers on the project.
This adaptation serves as another foray by Amazon into the science fiction and fantasy genres, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wanting to focus more on programming that could develop into a massive series like Game of Thrones. Amazon recently finalized a deal with New Line Cinema and the estate of author J.R.R. Tolkien to develop a series adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.
The news was first reported by Variety.
