Top Gun: Maverick and Fantastic Four star Miles Teller is reportedly being considered for the lead role in Neuromancer, a screen adaptation of the acclaimed cyberpunk trilogy by William Gibson. Apple TV+ is developing the adaptation, and according to a report at The Illuminerdi, the streamer has offered Teller the role of Case, “a hacker, antihero, and drug addict,” with a single-season commitment to start. According to the report, Teller has not yet accepted the offer.
Gibson’s 1984 novel, his first, centered on Henry Case, a washed-up hacker hired for “one last job,” which brings him in contact with a powerful artificial intelligence. It was the first of three books in the “Sprawl Trilogy,” which also included Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive, as well as short stories Johnny Mnemonic, Burning Chrome, and New Rose Hotel. The word “cyberspace,” coined by Gibson, was first used in Burning Chrome.
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In spite of the series’ success in the print realm, adaptations have been less lucky. Neuromancer itself has been in development as a film numerous times, most recently from Deadpool‘s Tim Miller and Simon Kinberg in 2017.
Gibson wrote a screenplay for a film adaptation of Burning Chrome, which was to be directed by Kathryn Bigelow, but the project never got off the ground. A 1995 film adaptation of Johnny Mnemonic took a lot of liberties with the source material, and then flopped at the box office. A film adaptation of New Rose Hotel came out in 1999, earning mostly negative reviews. The project only earned $20,000 or so at the box office, but it was a direct-to-video release that only got a limited run in New York, so that isn’t much to go by.
Neuromancer is the latest work of seminal science fiction to be adapted for streaming, following series for Brave New World and The Man that Fell to Earth. Neither of those were the kind of massive hits that fantasy-inspires series like Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power or Game of Thrones have become, but given the continued popularity of science fiction in the blockbuster movie space, you can be assured that streamers are likely to keep trying.
According to the report, Neuromancer is still looking for someone to play its other lead, Molly. Resembling Trinity from The Matrix, they are reportedly casting for a woman in her 30s or early 40s, with the idea that Molly will serve as the central protagonist in seasons 2 and 3 if Case leaves.
