VR gamer Flynne Fisher (Chloë Grace Moretz) tries to make sense of what's going on in “The Peripheral.” (Sophie Mutevelian / Prime Video).
And they reside in a brilliant depiction of a near-future America, where there’s finally broadband in town and trailer and where big business fleeces the working class in the discomfort of their own homes under the guise of connectivity and modernism. Bright spots in “The Peripheral” include excellent performances by Moretz and Eli Goree as Conner Penske, a struggling, demoralized vet who finds purpose in the battle. Forcibly having an eye removed during anesthesia-free surgery — and, yes, because it’s disgusting and hard to watch the series spends an inordinate amount of a time on the operation. Drones, hackers, invisible cars and all manner of digital surveillance are deployed to win the fight. Connecting all these places and spaces is a new VR “game” so advanced that it blurs the line between the physical realm and the simulated experience, leaving players — and viewers of the show — incredibly confused. Skilled VR gamers Flynne Fisher (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her brother Burton (Jack Reynor) are small-town mountain folk making a meager living playing games for wealthy benefactors, using their earnings to take care of their sick mother.
Not only are both shows airing on different networks (The Peripheral on Amazon Prime Video, Westworld on HBO), but Michael Crichton's original Westworld movie ...
[Westworld's fictional timeline](https://screenrant.com/westworld-season-4-ending-explained/), 2032 marks the early years of the WestWorld park, and it's plausible this could happen in conjunction with Flynne and Burton Fisher's present timeline in The Peripheral. [The Peripheral](https://screenrant.com/tag/the-peripheral/) and [Westworld](https://screenrant.com/tag/westworld/) take place in the same universe? Even if The Peripheral and Westworld don't officially share a world, is it canonically possible? It doesn't take an AI super-brain to see the parallels between Amazon's The Peripheral and [HBO's Westworld TV show](https://screenrant.com/westworld-season-5-end-show-plan-good/). The similarity is more obvious on TV than in the source material. There's no overt indication whatsoever that The Peripheral and Westworld are narratively connected, although you might say they're spiritual cousins, given the mirroring of the themes at play in each.
Here's how to watch "The Peripheral" online for free and where to stream the sci-fi show starring Chloe Grace Moretz without a television.
[Amazon Prime Video](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/offers/?tag=scprimevideo-20&asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fhow-to-watch-the-peripheral%2F)‘s [free trials](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/offers/?tag=scprimevideo-20&asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fhow-to-watch-the-peripheral%2F) and what else to know about the show. [Amazon Prime Video](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/offers/?tag=scprimevideo-20&asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fhow-to-watch-the-peripheral%2F). [Watch The Peripheral With Amazon Prime Video’s Free Trial](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/offers/?tag=scprimevideo-20&asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fhow-to-watch-the-peripheral%2F) [Amazon Prime Video’s free trial](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/offers/?tag=scprimevideo-20&asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fhow-to-watch-the-peripheral%2F) is four times longer than most other streaming services. Here’s [how to watch it for free](https://stylecaster.com/amazon-prime-video-free-trial/). Amazon Prime costs [$14.99 per month](https://www.amazon.com/amazonprime?tag=scprimevideo-20&asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fhow-to-watch-the-peripheral%2F) or [$139 per year](https://www.amazon.com/amazonprime?tag=scprimevideo-20&asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fhow-to-watch-the-peripheral%2F), which saves subscribers about $36 from the monthly subscription. [Amazon Prime Video](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/offers/?tag=scprimevideo-20&asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fhow-to-watch-the-peripheral%2F) costs [$8.99 per month](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/offers/?tag=scprimevideo-20&asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fhow-to-watch-the-peripheral%2F) for non-Prime members. Amazon Prime Video costs [$8.99 per month](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/offers/?tag=scprimevideo-20&asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fhow-to-watch-the-peripheral%2F) for non-Amazon Prime members. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale. The Peripheral cast includes Chloë Grace Moretz as the main character, Flynne Fisher, a woman who witnesses a murder after she takes the place of her brother, Burton Fisher, a veteran of United States Marine Corps’ Haptic Recon force, in his cyberspace security job. But perhaps the best part about [Amazon Prime Video’s free trial](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/offers/?tag=scprimevideo-20&asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fhow-to-watch-the-peripheral%2F) is that customers can sign up for it multiple times. According to Amazon, users can sign up for [Amazon Prime Video’s free trial](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/offers/?tag=scprimevideo-20&asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fhow-to-watch-the-peripheral%2F) over and over again as long as it isn’t within the same 12 months. [how to watch The Peripheral](https://stylecaster.com/amazon-prime-shows/) online for free to see the wild series from start to finish.
Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for The Peripheral. We are in an era of fantasy and sci-fi, from Andor to House of the Dragon.
The book ends far in the future of Flynne’s timeline, which had departed from Wilf’s due to Wilf and Aelita’s meddling. Daedra and Hamed had actually conspired with Sire Henry to exterminate the Patchers and sell the profits for themselves. [Andor](https://www.distractify.com/p/how-many-episodes-will-andor-have) to [House of the Dragon](https://www.distractify.com/t/house-of-the-dragon). Burton and his military colleagues, including his friend Conner (Eli Goree), with the help of Burton’s job’s front, Milagros Coldiron, are able to fight back against the assassins sent from the future. [Chloë Grace Moretz](https://www.distractify.com/p/chloe-grace-moretz-meme)) and Burton Fisher (Jack Reynor), viewers may be surprised by the satisfying ending. The new series, produced by [HBO’s](https://www.distractify.com/t/hbo-max) Westworld creators, shares [Westworld’s](https://www.distractify.com/t/westworld) dystopian perspective.
Science fiction has always existed to warn humans about the ramifications of their actions. But it seems like we are just getting a barrage of sci-fi shows.
Because the best-case scenario is that she’s going to get better, and the worst-case scenario is that she’s going to die (which is better than the situation she’s in). But all the parties are making the mistake of thinking that Aelita and/or Flynne are the assets, whereas that headset is the key to some earth-shattering revelation. And both of these timelines are out to get Flynne because – and this is a massive guess – Aelita did manage to download some vital information into Flynne’s headset via Burton’s peripheral. As expected, Flynne does go in and get the lowdown from Wilf as he explains the whole-time travel aspect of this exchange. This is essentially a commentary on both the financial crisis and the healthcare crisis we are currently facing in real life, which is something that’s only going to increase as we go forward if we don’t take important steps to correct it. In the present, we see this employer, Lev Zubov, telling Wilf about the attack on Flynne and her family and how he needs to talk to her Peripheral when she enters it. As the narrative shifts to the Blue Ridge Mountains in 2032, it becomes clear that that’s a diorama of Flynne and Burton Fisher’s home. Anyway, Flynne laments about how she has this one life and this one world, and she has to deal with it. is directing her to seduce a character named Mariel, drug her while they are in the car, and take her to an undisclosed location. Before going to her workplace, Flynne not only accuses Burton of stealing their mother’s pills but also does a better job of playing the FPS multiplayer that Burton is apparently proficient at. [Exception](https://dmtalkies.com/exception-season-1-ending-explained-2022-netflix-animated-action-series/),” “ [Glitch](https://dmtalkies.com/glitch-season-1-review-2022-netflix-korean-drama-thriller-series-noh-duk/),” “ [Andor](https://dmtalkies.com/andor-episodes-1-2-3-recap-ending-explained-2022-star-wars-series/),” “Quantum Leap,” “ [Cyberpunk: Edgerunners](https://dmtalkies.com/cyberpunk-edgerunners-season-1-ending-explained-2022-netflix-series/),” “Pantheon,” “ [Resident Evil](https://dmtalkies.com/resident-evil-season-1-ending-explained-2022-capcom-netflix-series/),” “Spriggan,” “ [Paper Girls](https://dmtalkies.com/paper-girls-season-1-ending-explained-2022-series-stephany-folsom/),” “ [Night Sky](https://dmtalkies.com/night-sky-season-1-ending-explained-2022-series-holden-miller/),” “ [The Time Traveler’s Wife](https://dmtalkies.com/the-time-travelers-wife-season-1-ending-explained-2022-hbo-series/),” “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” “Interstellar Ranger Commence,” “ [Halo](https://dmtalkies.com/halo-season-1-ending-explained-master-chief-2022-paramount-series/),” “ [Shining Girls](https://dmtalkies.com/shining-girls-season-1-recap-ending-explained-2022-appletv-series/),” “ [The Man Who Fell to Earth](https://dmtalkies.com/the-man-who-fell-to-earth-season-1-ending-explained-2022-showtime-series/),” “ [Severance](https://dmtalkies.com/severance-season-1-world-and-concepts-explained-2022-series/),” “ [All of Us Are Dead](https://dmtalkies.com/all-of-us-are-dead-season-1-summary-ending-explained-2022-series/),” “The Orbital Children,” and there are many more on the way. But it seems like we are just getting a barrage of sci-fi shows while humanity and the planet continue to find new ways to destroy themselves.
In terms of Nolan brothers productions, "The Peripheral" appears to have been made for people who think "Tenet" and the fourth season of "Westworld" weren't ...
Granted, the criteria for success in streaming are often difficult to read, but for a show that explores two separate futures, it doesn’t feel like it has much of one. Television, like CNN, a unit of Warner Bros. (Props, though, for using the Clash’s “London Calling” over the premiere’s closing credits.) Adapting William Gibson’s sci-fi novel, this Amazon series again deals with themes of virtual reality and sort-of time travel, but in a grinding fashion that should push it to the periphery of one’s “watch” list, if not off it entirely. But the real problem is that the scenes as written by Scott B. Because of Flynne’s role in that future threats keep invading her present, which is every bit as confusing as that sounds.
Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan's new sci-fi series is really about our distrust of acting.
On that show, the androids in a theme park become self-aware, but they’re forced to keep performing the roles the guests expect them to play. This makes The Peripheral feel like a progression from other stories that worry about pretending to be someone else online, from documentaries like Catfish to roughly a hundred episodes of Law & Order. [Quantum Leap](https://www.primetimer.com/features/the-quantum-leap-reboot-is-the-best-kind-of-bad-tv), and he represents a type of rebuttal to all this dread. The robot-to-person journey is the inverse of what happens The Peripheral, but there are still consequences for acting like someone else. When she slips on a special headset sent by the shadowy employer, her consciousness gets sucked decades into the future, where she inhabits an android that is designed to look just like her brother. She quickly has to adjust her voice and her mannerisms to make her performance believable, but before she can congratulate herself for pulling it off, she realizes that she’s not playing a game at all. In other words, acting like someone else endangers the spirit as much as the body. The Peripheral puts a modern spin on that tradition. The same goes for stories about shapeshifters and twins who switch identities, not to mention comedies like Freaky Friday and Big, where it’s both funny and unnerving to see a young person performing as an adult. [say their profession is stupid](”https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/01/the-perfect-idiots-profession-when-famous-actors-ridicule-their-craft/266847/), or the way that performance artists make the entire country [furious](”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEA_Four”). It went on and on like that for centuries. But no matter how futuristic it gets, the show is fundamentally rooted in an ancient anxiety: the fear of acting.
The Peripheral stars Chloe Grace Moretz of Kick Ass and Let The Right One In fame as Flynne, a girl who lives with her mother and her brother Burton (Jack ...
As it turns out, the reveal is that this is not VR, but instead, 70 years in the future, technology has advanced to the point where human consciousness itself can time travel, transported as “data” through quantum tunneling. The Peripheral stars Chloe Grace Moretz of Kick Ass and Let The Right One In fame as Flynne, a girl who lives with her mother and her brother Burton (Jack Reynor). After Flynne is asked to test a new form of screenless, brain-controlled VR (think The Matrix) which transports her to a surreal, hyper futuristic version of London, she begins to wonder just what sort of company she’s gotten into bed with, despite the fact that the money is stellar. Gibson novel, of Neuromancer fame, and responsible in part for the “metaverse” craze currently going on in tech. If Rings of Power was Amazon’s stab at a massively popular fantasy series like Game of Thrones, than The Peripheral is their attempt to replicate HBO’s Westworld to a certain extent, using many of the same people involved. Amazon is committed to the show for the long haul, so it will be back soon enough, but in the meantime, they’re attempting to fill the void.
Scott B. Smith began writing the Amazon Prime Video sci-fi series The Peripheral three weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic put much of the world into ...
The creator of [Lost](https://time.com/collection-post/3103624/lost/), [The Leftovers](https://time.com/4137890/the-leftovers-season-2-finale/), and [The Watchmen](https://time.com/5700888/watchmen-hbo-graphic-novel/) has an “uncanny ability for creating quirky, unusual characters that fans love,” Scott says. “That human quality,” Scott says, “is what persists through whatever techno dystopia might be happening on screen or off.” The Peripheral wants to be a friendly reminder of that fact. Often he and his writers room would share links to stories about [Elon Musk](https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2021-elon-musk/)’s forays into “ [brain chips](https://time.com/6191973/big-tech-freedom-of-thought/)” and [Humanoid robot assistants](https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/30/23374729/tesla-bot-ai-day-robot-elon-musk-prototype-optimus-humanoid). “He is so prescient, so known for his [ability to get the future right](https://time.com/3731977/science-fiction-future-wrong/), it obscures some of his astonishing capacity as a novelist.” Smith was told that Flynne and Burton’s hometown of Clanton “bears some emotional resonance with Gibson,” who grew up in a small Virginia town in the Appalachians. But it was one he was willing to take thanks to a piece of advice his producers, Nolan and Joy, gave him early in the writing process: “Keep it simple, it’s easier to convey and it’s always enough.” In other words, the viewer’s imagination is more than capable of filling in the blanks—so why not let them? (In the show, Burton describes it as “two souls becoming one” and this connection can often feel a lot like love.) But Gibson doesn’t reveal what the haptics are until later in the novel and he doesn’t do it all at once. [Chloë Grace Moretz](https://time.com/4387638/chloe-grace-moretz-twitter-trolls/)), a struggling gamer-for-hire who lives in the rural American South of the not-so-distant future. “I allowed for a certain degree of confusion and trusted that other people involved in the elaborate production would speak up if anything was incomprehensible,” Scott says. A global pandemic plays a pivotal role in the series based on [William Gibson’s 2014 novel](https://time.com/collection/must-read-books-2020/5904425/agency/) of the same name, making the experience of adapting the work “almost like watching the book unfold in real time as we’re trying to write,” Smith tells TIME ahead of the show’s Oct. Gibson, who [coined the term “cyberspace”](https://time.com/5770124/author-william-gibson-new-book-interview/) in his 1982 short story Burning Chrome, is regarded as a visionary among sci-fi authors, known for an ability to predict the future. The twisty sci-fi noir looks at a future in which reality and virtual reality are one in the same, but, in real life, the now 74-year-old Gibson is actually quite averse to technology.
The highly-anticipated show stars Chloë Grace Moretz as a young woman who gets away from her daily troubles by playing advanced and dangerous virtual ...
on Amazon Prime Video](https://www.amazon.com/Peripheral-Season-Teaser-Trailer/dp/B0B8THR762). [](https://www.directv.com/) To watch the series, tune in to [Amazon Prime Video](https://www.amazon.com/Peripheral-Season-Teaser-Trailer/dp/B0B8THR762). [How to watch DAZN on your TV: What is it, what does it cost and include? After your free trial is over, you can sign up for Prime Video for $14.99/month. [The Peripheral](https://www.amazon.com/Peripheral-Season-Teaser-Trailer/dp/B0B8THR762) premieres [tonight, Friday, October 21 at 9 p.m. [watch The Peripheral for FREE with Amazon Prime Video](https://www.amazon.com/Peripheral-Season-Teaser-Trailer/dp/B0B8THR762) (free trial). Boxing fights, MMA and more](https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2021/02/how-to-watch-dazn-on-your-tv-what-is-it-what-does-it-cost-and-include-boxing-fights-mma-and-more.html) [How to watch ESPN+ on TV: What is it, what does it cost and include?](https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2019/09/how-to-watch-espn-plus-on-your-tv-what-is-it-what-does-it-cost-and-what-does-it-include.html) The cheapest live TV streaming service: Cost, what it includes](https://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/2021/04/how-to-watch-philo-tv-what-does-it-cost-what-channels-does-it-have-free-trial-info-and-why-its-cheaper-than-sling-other-streaming-services.html) [Full cast and credits.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8291284/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm) [Verizon Fios](https://www.verizon.com/home/fiostv/), [ AT&T U-verse](https://www.att.com/tv/u-verse.html), [ Comcast / Xfinity](https://www.xfinity.com/), [Spectrum/Charter](https://www.spectrum.com/), [ Optimum/Altice](https://www.optimum.com/alticeone), [Cox](https://www.cox.com/residential/tv.html), [DIRECTV](https://www.att.com/directv/), [ Dish](https://www.dish.com/).
Review by Brian Lowry, CNN. In terms of Nolan brothers productions, "The Peripheral" appears to have been made for people who think "Tenet" and the fourth ...
Granted, the criteria for success in streaming are often difficult to read, but for a show that explores two separate futures, it doesn't feel like it has much of one. ](https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/14/entertainment/the-lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-season-finale) Television, like CNN, a unit of Warner Bros. Adapting William Gibson's sci-fi novel, this Amazon series again deals with themes of virtual reality and sort-of time travel, but in a grinding fashion that should push it to the periphery of one's "watch" list, if not off it entirely. But the real problem is that the scenes as written by Scott B. Because of Flynne's role in that future threats keep invading her present, which is every bit as confusing as that sounds.
The makers of HBO's Westworld adapt William Gibson's vision of the future into a slick, if cluttered, tech-centric series.
The Little Mermaid is the beloved story of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. Tara Bennett [The Little Mermaid - Official Teaser TrailerCheck out the teaser trailer for The Little Mermaid, the upcoming live-action reimagining of the animated musical classic. And worse, there’s not a lot of care about knowing what comes next. Carr also has some good chemistry with Moretz, but overall she seems a bit unsuited for the demands of the role. The writers’ commitment to telling the Canton stories equally also doesn’t help because that part of the show plays like a small-town soap opera, complete with a local drug tycoon storyline and the individual stories of Burton’s fellow unit buddies trying to navigate their post-military careers. A tighter edit and commitment to sharing what the overarching goals are for Flynne and the 2070 contingent would have helped the series a lot. Only interested in making enough money to take care of their mother free and clear, an agreement is made to scratch one another’s backs. But unfortunately, once you get past the initially impressive production design and special effects, the series itself is more boring than breathtaking. [Person of Interest](/articles/2014/05/19/person-of-interest-season-3-review), while Joy directed [Reminiscence](/articles/reminiscence-review-hugh-jackman) and Natali directed episodes of [Hannibal](/articles/2014/06/03/hannibal-season-2-review), [The Strain](/articles/2017/09/24/the-strain-season-4-review), and [Westworld](/articles/2018/06/25/westworld-season-2-finale-review-the-passenger). With the action see-sawing between 2032 and 2070, the series covers both the broad view of how machinations in 2070 are key to humanity surviving via the information Aelita holds and the micro view of the Fisher family’s drama in their insular small town. A complicated tale set in the near futures of 2032 and 2070, it explores how technology is amplified as a conduit for war, atrocities, connection, and perhaps the salvation of the human species. He’s certainly heavily inspired some seminal sci-fi films like The Matrix and Strange World.
"The Peripheral" star T'Nia Miller talks about Amazon Prime Video's Chloe Grace Moretz-led show and why it's a warning about society and technology.
This is not even 70 years in the future. Expect similar storytelling in The Peripheral, so pay attention; this is not a show you want to watch while mindlessly scrolling through your phone—in fact, that would actually be a little ironic. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission from the sale. It’s like 10 years in the future. Using a simple headset, someone has managed to open the door to Flynne’s consciousness and she awakens in London nearly 70 years in the future. This could happen in the blink of an eye. She possesses “the power of Facebook”, i.e. To take a more modern approach, the creators of Rick and Morty Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland suggest there are infinite realities with infinite versions of ourselves, thus our reality as we know it doesn’t matter. Because it depicts civilization a mere 10 years away, the themes presented in the series hit particularly close to home in relation to how humans interact with technological advancements. The Peripheral is set in 2032. [T’Nia Miller](https://stylecaster.com/the-haunting-of-bly-manor-hannah-tnia-miller/) was a child, she was faced with an unsettling albeit intriguing thought: “What about if we just are in a box in a laboratory somewhere?” she tells STYLECASTER, recalling her father saying. “You know, we could just be ants in a box.” Miller’s father is certainly not the first, nor will he be the last, human to question the nature of human existence.
"The Peripheral" stars Amber Rose Revah speak to StyleCaster about Amazon Prime Video's new show and the dangers of technology.
My mom would always say to me, “Don’t be sad.” And I work every day to not be sad and to think of how grateful I am for every moment that I had with my mom. Those are the things that you may not think are significant, but they turn out to be very significant. But I prefer to have the show or movie as the event. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission from the sale. Here’s [how to watch it for free](https://stylecaster.com/how-to-watch-the-peripheral/). I think we’re actually at that teetering point of going, ‘Well, how do we deal with this?’ So much of The Peripheral deals with those questions in a kind of parallel manner. But that day was sweltering hot, one of the hottest days of the year. Indeed, the biggest question that The Peripheral poses is where do we as a society draw a line with how far technology can take us? Much like Westworld, I find there are scenes you watch that you kind of brush off without realizing how significant they are later on. [Amber Rose Revah](https://stylecaster.com/how-to-watch-the-peripheral/) has a bit of a raspy voice. of the same name. It’s a loyal adaptation of [William Gibson’s 2014 dystopian novel](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0425276236?tag=stylecaster0d-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1&language=en_US&asc_source=web&asc_campaign=web&asc_refurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstylecaster.com%2Fthe-peripheral-amber-rose-revah%2F)
In the premiere of Amazon's 'The Peripheral,' a young woman becomes a target after dabbling with some scary new tech — read our recap.
Flynne comes out of the sim and she’s on a high, that is, until she gets dizzy and needs to sit down. The voice directs her to Buckingham Palace and tells her to walk inside. A company party is taking place, and she’s told to approach a woman named Marielle and convince her to take her home. When she heads back to see her brother, Flynne sees that he’s crippled over in pain; his back is adorned with glowing spots and pulsating veins. They arrive at a building and with the new eye, Flynne is granted access. He calls the mystery woman “Aelita,” and takes her down with a sonic boom device thingamajig. “Burton” takes a sonic boom to the head, and when that happens, Flynne wakes up and vomits. Conner, an amputee, comes to her defense, and by the way he talks, he’s not one to be messed with. He says she saved his life; she says she’s going to save the world (but not “our world”). Her brother Burton lives in a trailer outside and is strapped into a diesel gaming chair, VR goggles and all. In Prime Video’s latest sci-fi soirée (the premiere is now available to stream, with new episodes dropping on Fridays), a small-town young woman named Flynne Fisher (Chloe Grace Moretz) gets her hands on a futuristic gaming headset that ultimately puts her and her family in danger. In London 2099, a guy named Wilf is sitting on a park bench watching the city around him, as a young girl named Aelita (who seems to be an avatar?) sits down.
The Peripheral, starring Chloë Grace Moretz and produced by the creators of Westworld, imagines a dark, plausible future in a world not too far removed from ...
(The 1995 film Johnny Mnemonic remains the best-known adaptation to date.) This particular novel provides a fine base for a slow-boiling TV series in both of its settings, but particularly in the scenes set in 2032. [Lisa Joy](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/lisa-joy/3000525274/) and [Jonathan Nolan](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/jonathan-nolan/3000397883/), best known for their work on HBO's [Westworld](https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/westworld/1000067930/). [Louis Herthum](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/louis-herthum/3030321043/)), a local crime boss whose viciousness gives him a competitive edge and gentle manners give him an air of refinement. On another front, the series slowly reveals both Wilf's origin story, the political divisions of his world, and the reasons he's enlisted Flynne to search for a missing woman named Aelita ( [Charlotte Riley](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/charlotte-riley/3030575280/)). Subsequent episodes reveal bits of Flynne and Burton's past and sidetrack to depict the backgrounds of increasingly consequential supporting characters like Corbell ( [The Peripheral](https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/the-peripheral/1060185796/) expands the notion of what "the street" means. Some, like Burton and his multiple-amputee friend and former squad mate Conner ( [Eli Goree](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/eli-goree/3000564573/)) suffer PTSD from serving in a recent war, a feeling enhanced by some of the technology used to make them a stronger fighting unit. [Chloë Grace Moretz](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/chloe-grace-moretz/3030116018/), nicely mixing sunniness and toughness) splits her time working for a small-time 3D printing shop and helping her brother Burton ( [Jack Reynor](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/jack-reynor/3000761308/)) make a living as a kind of a VR sherpa for rich-but-unskilled gamers. But Gibson's novel and the guidance of creator [Scott Smith](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/scott-smith/3000499158/) (a novelist in his own right, responsible for A Simple Plan and The Ruins) give it a stiffer spine. The Fishers are granted an unexpected windfall, however, with the arrival of what seems to be a cutting edge VR from a Colombian company interested in using Burton's gaming skills to test the tech (unaware that Flynne is the better gamer and the source of much of Burton's reputation). (In the same story, Gibson coins the term "cyberspace." "The street finds its own uses for things," William Gibson wrote in his 1982 short story "Burning Chrome," one of the foundational texts of science fiction's cyberpunk branch.
Creator Scott Smith talks to io9 about his William Gibson adaptation, the first episode of which is now streaming on Prime Video.
Pulling Flynne toward the center, making her sort of the proxy for the viewer and the doorway into into the world—it’s there in the book, but we knew that had to be heightened to some degree. That was the kind of the ball that we took from him and went running with. Speaker 1: A lot of that was Vincenzo Natali, one of our directors, [and was in] the book, and [also the input of producers] Lisa [Joy] and Jonah [Nolan]. That was always what drew me along with—in terms of the future world—the noir element. io9: I haven’t read the book yet unfortunately, but I get the sense that your take on The Peripheral is pretty similar, although there are some key divergences that you made. io9: So that’s good, that you have confidence in the audience being able to to keep up. Smith: That was the network. io9: The show encompasses a variety of themes; obviously there is a big emphasis on technology but also how important human relationships are. io9: In that respect, the show it most reminded me of was Westworld, appropriately enough. You have to watch how the characters use the terms and you gradually pick it up through that. We wanted that to be similar to the viewing experience—but at the same time, we knew that we couldn’t go too far with that without people just giving up in confusion. I think one thing I’ve always loved about Gibson’s work is that it’s not very accessible, and he draws on the reader’s intelligence to build the world.
The drama could be written by a bot fed enough mediocre sci-fi action scripts. ... For the TV viewer burned by “Westworld” and burned out by Marvel, Star Wars, ...
“The Peripheral” is a lazy attempt to accomplish whatever it set out to do — that is, if it had any heroic quest to begin with. “The Peripheral” has nothing new to offer its target demo of sci-fi, action, and drama fans, but if more of the same is an itch that needs scratching, it will satiate the unadventurous viewer. Sleek though it is in the hands of director Vincenzo Natali and cinematographers Stuart Howell and Roberto Schaefer, “The Peripheral” can’t clear the rising bar for genre storytelling in television. The premiere episode misses a chance to put her at the forefront of its action by making Burton the face of the hero in the game; Reynor does a fine enough job leading the sequence, but it ultimately blends into every Bond-esque white-man-secret-mission-turned-car-chase committed to film. It has time travel, gaming, and the lure of a post-apocalyptic backdrop, but manages to suck the thrill out of these promising elements and deliver something decidedly mundane. Like so many sci-fi heroes before her, Flynne turns out to be the most important ordinary person in the world, for reasons “The Peripheral” does not care to explain or illustrate in any fashion, instead plunging viewers and this manic pixie gamer girl into arbitrary stakes and stories.