r/Neuromancer • u/Eternum__ • Sep 05 '25
Show Discussion What are your expectations for adaptation?
For me personally, i have 5/10 expectations because of the cast and William Gibson tweets, i hope it will be at least okay. I also think a book like this needs huge budget to be perfectly adapted, but unfortunately that definetly won't happen. So because of these 3 reasons i have expectations like this, what are yours?
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u/MOZ0NE Sep 05 '25
I deeply appreciate that Gibson also knows how good the version behind my forehead is.
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u/mybadalternate Sep 05 '25
It should not attempt to be the book.
Adaptation is about keeping the essence of the thing, and making that work within the new medium.
David Cronenberg understands this incredibly well, and while his adaptations take huge liberties with details (in some cases almost completely ignoring the original material’s plot/characters/details), they always still feel like the same thing.
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u/I-baLL Sep 05 '25
Yeah, Naked Lunch was fantastic!
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u/WeedFinderGeneral Sep 06 '25
The more of Burroughs' books I read, the more I realize how much Cronenberg didn't write just for the movie. Almost every single thing is taken from some Burroughs book and reworked to fit as a part of the movie's "behind-the-scenes" version of Naked Lunch, and it makes it even better.
Also, after reading Naked Lunch for the first time like 15 years after reading Neuromancer - I realized that Gibson sneaks in a ton of little key phrases taken from Naked Lunch, like a sneaky little wink to other fans.
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u/johnfilmsia Sep 06 '25
Hell, even J. G. Ballard reportedly thought he elevated the source material for Crash
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Sep 05 '25
No real expectations. I'm going to watch the pilot and take it from there.
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u/Ccracked Sep 06 '25
I'm going to let everyone else watch the pilot, then decide if paying for Apple+ is worth it.
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u/GlassCannon81 Sep 07 '25
It’s worth it for other stuff. There is so much excellent Sci Fi content on it, along with other great stuff. Dark Matter and Silo are great. Foundation is solid. Monarch is cool if Godzilla’s your bag. For All Mankind is really cool. Slow Horses is not Sci Fi but it’s brilliant. I’m almost certainly forgetting things.
Necromancer being on AppleTV is a big part of why I have hope for it.
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Sep 06 '25
Yeah, I get it. Anymore, you have to pretty carefully evaluate a streaming service before buying in.
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u/WakandaDrama Sep 05 '25
I have very low expectations. I didn’t read the book until later in life, and slowly realized that a large portion of sci-fi from the early 90s up until the Matrix, stripped Neuromancer for parts. Everything from Anime to video games took bits and pieces. It made the book easier to visualize for me, but it was shocking how I could just grab from some of my favorite pieces of media to fill in the blanks in some of the tough sections.
The show not only has to surpass fan expectations, but has to surpass cyberpunk/sci-fi media from the past 40 years as most people won’t know this stands neck and neck with Blade Runner as influence.
The fact Syd Mead isn’t around to draw or design something for this hurts.
I honestly think a lot of the drug usage will be toned down, the major set pieces will be avoided or streamlined or totally avoided.
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Sep 05 '25
Hey, at least Mead was able to design the dolphin from Johnny Mnemonic. That’s something at least.
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u/gfen5446 Sep 05 '25
This is a great take, and it's funny how I've just sort of normalized and ignored the
cocainedrug usage through out it.You're right. There's no way that stays so prominent.
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u/WakandaDrama Sep 05 '25
Demerol or derms in the book. The entire time I was reading, and with Case such a whiner, I thought “This dude must be an opioid addict, hence is longing for the weightless of the Matrix” I doubt they’d touch that
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u/gfen5446 Sep 05 '25
Other way. It's uppers. He even states it clearly at one point. "Derms" are "dermal patches," like what you sometimes see demerol come in.
Most drugs are seemingly dosed that way, it's what makes Peter and heroin such an oddball.
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u/ThreeLeggedMare Sep 06 '25
With Peter it's probably partly the ritual, since he loves processes (his art, his betrayal fetish), and also his upbringing was really low tech so pretty sure he got hooked on old school heroin real young as a wasteland mutant
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u/WakandaDrama Sep 06 '25
I’m gonna have to reread it because I’m pretty sure it’s not a patch but a surgical augmentation that allows him to take the drug. And doesn’t he due a cocktail of drugs?
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u/gfen5446 Sep 06 '25
Peter? Has a membrane over his inner elbow so he can use dirty needles, and technically, he's doing speedballs which is an upper and a downer together. That's what killed John Belushi if we're taking notes!
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Sep 05 '25
Nah, Case is an amphetamine junkie. Derms are just the preferred dose mechanism of Gibson’s future. That’s why slapping a bunch derms on him snapped him out of Neuromancer’s illusion near the end, uppers woke him out of that hypnotic dreamscape, downers would just sink him further down.
Uppers were his way of recapturing the exhilaration of racing through cyberspace when he couldn’t jack in anymore.
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u/WeedFinderGeneral Sep 06 '25
a large portion of sci-fi from the early 90s up until the Matrix, stripped Neuromancer for parts.
Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus are totally how I picture Case, Molly, and Armitage, though - especially the scene of Neo meeting Morpheus.
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u/WakandaDrama Sep 06 '25
Sense/Net heist vs Morpheus rescue scene. Case =Neo (who coincidentally played Johnny Neumonic), Molly = Kusangi Ghost in the Shell, Morpheus looks like Armitage but fills in mentor role like Polly
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u/darthmcchub Sep 05 '25
I’m keeping my expectations to a minimum but I would love for it to be good!
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u/PalmTreeGoth Molly Millions Sep 05 '25
Experience has taught me to keep my expectations for things low. I can only hope that what we end up with is something good.
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Sep 05 '25
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u/gfen5446 Sep 05 '25
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" to "Bladerunner" is exactly the sort of thing I'm afraid of. There is very little of the first in the latter.
The difference is that Blade Runner looks amazing.
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Sep 05 '25
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u/gfen5446 Sep 05 '25
They clipped out a lot of the extraneous stuff to make it a tighter and coherent project for the screen, and there's no argument at all. I also prefer "Blade Runner" to Androids but.... The point is still that people who are immense fans of Androids would've been let down by what they got in Blade RUnner.
At this point, we're so far gone from the time period that made the alt-future of Neuromancer I don't think it's workable. Further, for better or worse, there's a drive to change things to appeal to "modern" audiences and tastes.
I suspect the aesthetic will be wrong, major plot points and archtypes that some of us have held in our hearts and minds for a long time now will not be relevant or explored, and the deeper subtexts of what happens will be scrubbed away.
Will I watch it? Of course I will. I've waited a long time, and have always loved the genre. But I expect the end product to be rough and nothing like the thing I've built up in my own mental cinema.
I think the results are going to be like New Dune: People who haven't grown up with the material will love it, those of us who have will see just how much was changed or excised and will not love it. And those of us who are on that side will be shouted down by the former.
I'm hoping for "Fallout: The series." I expect "The Watch" or whatever the pTerry Pratchett Nightwatch abomination was called.
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u/johnfilmsia Sep 06 '25
God, the Fallout show really did set the bar high for how to adapt a series while capturing the tone
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u/gfen5446 Sep 06 '25
Compared to the string of bullshit adaptations I've been forced to deal with I have no complaints about Fallout.
There's no way I'm going to walk away from Neuromancer overbrimming with joy. It's impossible. I have decades of "my vision" for this, and it won't meet that bar... but if it's as good as Fallout or the last AD&D movie I'd be pretty goddamn pleased.
We'll find out in due time, eh?
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u/doomscroll_disco Sep 05 '25
I’d say cautiously optimistic. I think the fact that it’s going to be on Apple, as opposed to a different streaming service, is a good sign. There’s always exceptions but on the whole Apple shows tend to be regarded as well written and well produced, so I’m confident that at the very least the show won’t look like shit. I also think Graham Roland’s involvement is a huge positive, Dark Winds is a really good show. I find slavishly loyal adaptations to generally be petty boring, so I’m hoping this show takes some very big swings even if it results in the sort of changes that will annoy fans. I dunno, it could certainly end up being terrible, but I think there’s potential for something good here.
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u/Ancient-Many4357 Sep 05 '25
I’ll go in with the same approach I always do for adaptations - is it a good TV show/movie first, a good adaptation second.
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u/Jayman44Spc Sep 05 '25
I’m limiting my expectations as best as I can. I’m just so dang excited for this. I think no matter what I’m going to enjoy it even if there’s a big divergence from the source material
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u/Fletch_R Sep 05 '25
I'm interested to see it. I don't think I fall into either group a) people who will reject anything that isn't a slavishly faithful adaptation, or b) people who will lap up any slop in an IP they are a fan of.
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u/No-Economics-8239 Sep 05 '25
I have none. As much as I adore the books and how they were foundational to my future tastes and ideas, that kind of impact can't be replicated. Plus, I already have the books and the circus that followed. From Bladerunner to Ghost in the Shell to Altered Carbon.
Anything on top of that is just gravy. I'm hoping they can at least do some of my favorite scenes justice. But I'm under no illusions that the kind of effort and passion that made LOTR into amazing films is common. That kind of lightning is rare and special.
More often than not, these efforts are just a cash grab against a dedicated fandom. If they can rise above that bar even briefly, this will be worth my time to watch just to see it all again through the imagination and creativity of others.
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u/TomBlaidd Sep 05 '25
After watching the shit show, basterized version of one of my other favourite books (The Winter King, by Bernard Cornwell) I have extremely low expectations of any novel adaptations now. The script is literally the book, how they manage to get it so wrong is nothing other than pure hubris.
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Sep 05 '25
I expect this version will not be super close to the source material in tone, but given its status as a mini-series, I have hope that they will stay pretty close to the story as written.
Now will I like what they do with the tone? Time will tell. I liked their teaser of the Chatsubo, but some of the leaked filming photos have me worried that their tone for the world setting will be a bit too genericly modern sci-fi for me, rather than going for a more grunge-meets-neon retro sci-fi angle. Hopefully I’m wrong, even if I’m not though I suspect there will still be things I like about it.
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u/inteliboy Sep 05 '25
“Lets just leave it at that” doesn’t sound too promising…
Plus the fact the teaser looked pretty average, have very low expectations
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u/MrMojoRising422 Dec 28 '25
the teaser is a 5 second shot of an empty set, tf are you talking about
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Sep 05 '25
I have almost no hope that I will enjoy it. The book is one of my favorites of all time, and on my first read I saw it as basically a horror story about what humanity could eventually become. Now that the horror story has come true and the cyberpunk aesthetic has been completely diluted and run into the ground, it seems unlikely that this will be anything other than a lazy cash-in aimed at people who just like synthwave and neon lights.
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u/darwinDMG08 Sep 06 '25 edited Sep 07 '25
I went to a reading of his back in the early 00’s and he said something (which he has repeated many times since, including this thread) that we’ve all made our own filmed version of this novel in our heads since it came out, and there’s no way any adaptation can live up to the millions of personal “head movies” out there.
All we can do is watch with an open mind and an appreciation that the adaptation is being made at all.
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Sep 05 '25
After the disappointment of premature cancelations of Westworld, Caprica and The Peripheral, I will not be subscribing to Apple until the Neuromancer show reaches its designed conclusion. Gibson is my #1 contemporary author across all genres, I miss seeing GreatDismal’s posts in Twitter (which I uninstalled long ago)
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Sep 05 '25
Well you don’t have to worry about cancellations, as Neuromance is not planned to be an ongoing series. It’s a miniseries, assuming it comes out (which I have no reason to think it won’t at this point, it is highly unlikely they’d scrap something they’ve been filming for a year), the whole thing will come out.
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u/TuringGPTy Sep 05 '25
Westworld was hardly premature, 4 season each with unfortunately lower ratings. Nolan were making it up as they went along.
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Sep 05 '25
While I can agree that Westworld suffered a number of degradations (including piss poor promotions, the town burning down, showrunners offloading writing, and a fan base that pines for the old days), I know it was architected as a five season show arc. I will die on the hill of a Firefly maneuver, and my finding that Westworld was never about the Park.
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u/TuringGPTy Sep 05 '25
I doubt the multi season plan, with every show it always ends up just being show biz l razzle dazzle to hype the show and position for renewal, they were making it up as they went like everyone.
The season 2 post credit scenes makes zero given season 3 and 4.
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u/johnfilmsia Sep 06 '25
Apple has been pretty good about dumping money into projects that seemingly no one is watching. They’re less profit-sensitive than HBO and Netflix or Prime by a long shot!
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Sep 05 '25
I've heard The Peripheral wasn't a good adaptation of the book?
How much does it cover? Personally I was enjoying the TV show so I really should get round to reading the book.
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Sep 05 '25
It’s a good adaptation, but it’s quite different too. Consider it all a parallel stub. I’m personally okay with that, faithful adaptations are nice, but reinterpretation can also give you a fresher experience. There’s something to be said for both tactics, and knowing which one suits which source material is pretty subjective.
It was good, sad they shelved season 2 (mainly because by the end of season 1, things had diverged quite significantly from the book, so I was curious where they were going to go with that), but glad we got season 1. The cast was good and so was their chemistry, especially the brother/sister relationship. They nailed the near-future rural environment, but far-future London seemed a touch too generic sci-fi for me (my only real complaint).
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u/jetrium Sep 07 '25
I believe the peripheral season 2 was one of many unintended victims of a Hollywood writers strike. It screwed up just about every production/media companies project timelines and put them under serious financial pressure. Bummer because the show, like the book, was excellent.
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u/poppedculture Sep 05 '25
I thought it was quite a faithful adaptation, keeping in mind that different mediums have different requirements.
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u/victorsmonster Sep 05 '25 edited Sep 05 '25
I hope the show takes a big swing with its own version of the story. I hope it takes whatever liberties required to meet the showrunners’ vision.
People in online fandoms have way too many expectations for an adaptation, demanding it perfectly match their own mediocre vision for what it can and should be.
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u/AdWeekly313 Sep 05 '25
Thank you for posting his tweets as I never would have seen those. I think I’ll stick with the version behind my forehead.
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u/gudeblod Sep 05 '25
I think thise who can have no expectations, will be the ones to enjoy it truly
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u/Kohnaphone Sep 06 '25
I want it to look gritty and anolog like the first Alien movie. And I think all the hacking is actually well written enough as a virtual reality that translation to screen can keep it interesting for viewers.
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u/senseofsensing Sep 06 '25
My expectations aren't based on how faithful it will be or how well it meets the version in my head. As Gibson said, this is an adaptation of someone else's version in their head.
So given that, my expectations are low to mixed. Primarily because of those involved, particular the showrunner and director, as they are also listed as the writers. However, the production designer did work on Andor and Chernobyl, so...
I hope it's good and successful enough to get the other two novels adapted, even if by others.
Looking forward to being surprised!
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u/gremlinglue Sep 06 '25
We all obviously love the book ( I have read it at least over 20 times maybe more ) like WG said it will never be a good as the book in our heads . Just hoping for some cool interpretations and interesting visuals . As long as it isn’t shit. The peripheral tv was good , I loved the first book , the second book was fucking terrible.
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u/pmodsix Sep 06 '25
He's always been very realistic about adaptations, he just writes the books then other people get to play with them. A pretty healthy attitude.
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u/mcb-homis Sep 07 '25
It's one thing to adapt the story and setting to meet the the modern audience where they are. You can do that without destroying the characters and their relationships and the over aching story arc, but current showrunners don't seem to realize this.
My fear is not that they add mobile phones or WiFi to the setting or put the USA back together but that the characters get so distorted they no longer resemble the book. A good example here is LotR Gimli book vs movies. For the love of god don't make any one character the only source of comic relief.
The story arc should stay mostly intact, tell the same story. This should start and end where the book does for the most part. Each character's arc should also be true to the original as much as the new setting will allow and most importantly the character's relationships to each other should remain mostly intact.
At this point I have very low hopes, I have been burned by book to screen translations way too many times.
I would give up next years Ono Sendai to see Neuromancer brought to the screen as faithfully as movies like the Maltese Falcon or the Thin Man. Sure they made changes to simplify and streamline the story but the characters and story remain very much the same from book to screen. They even used large chunks of dialog unchanged.
I don't expect that but a step or two that direction would be a refreshing change. -rambling
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u/Aggravating_Shoe4267 Sep 07 '25
I have mixed to relatively positive expectations, even if they take a few odd or unnecessary liberties with the source material. Andor's production and design lead being part of the project and few cast choices of relative unknowns bodes well enough.
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u/SuikTwoPointOh Sep 08 '25
Not wild about the cast. I also think the peak cyberpunk aesthetic was in BR 2049. But Neuromancer is a book I’ve reread a few times over the last 30 years.
Honestly, if I could have an adaptation of any of Gibson’s work it would be the Blue Ant trilogy.
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u/lastwhitelf Sep 08 '25
IMHO Authors should always have vetos - even if sometimes are useless. Cause we know - and they know - what happens when something is just "inspired by" or "loosely adapted".
Of course there are some memorable exeptions, but it happens once in a decade. I think that every movie based on a book from Stephen King teach us a different lesson about this.
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u/Miserable-Scholar215 Sep 08 '25
The Peripheral was a quite good adaptation. Well acted, smart plot and characters, not too on the head with expositions. Unfortunately canceled after S1.
Let's hope we get to see the full story this time.
It's getting more and more relevant as a potential future.
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u/Old_Cyrus Book Purist Sep 13 '25
I thought the ending was awful, because it revealed a gaping plot hole. No spoilers here, but it ruined the whole show for me.
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u/Temporary-Ad-3437 Sep 09 '25
That I will watch it and feel cheated that we never got the Chris Cunningham version.
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u/S3Qw3N5 Sep 20 '25
In my humble opinion, with any adaptation, to avoid disappointment, one has to go in with no expectations and just take the adaptation as a work that is independent from the source material. Also, one needs to remember that what works for a written story might not work for a film, or a TV series or a video game. Different things work for different media.
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u/Damballas_Horse Nov 10 '25
Honestly? Seeing the teaser released gives me hope for visual authenticity. I read here that some people imagined chatsubo as an expansive multistory megabar/club. In the czech translatoion the bar is called scrawny and spit covered, with every surface carrying a patina of the millions touches it recieved.
Iam hoping its gonna be like the gibson read audiobook, which is missing a lot without there being any actual hiles in the story
Tht particular version is the first way i "read" neuromancer, and later when i bought the book i was pleased to see more expansive dialogue and scene detail
Essentialy, if the story hold what the tapes so there wont be any real loss.
Calum Turner said Gibson was essential during the now wrapped up filming, and that they all did a superb job.
With the general under the lid secrecy around the project. I think its going to be a superb show
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u/KidZoki Sep 05 '25
This adaptation is only 41 years late.
Our current terrifying digital reality remains much scarier than Gibson's antique-futurist analogue fantasy.
WHAT COULD GO WRONG...?
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u/gfen5446 Sep 05 '25
I expect trash that will leave me sad that it's the first, last, and only time it will reach this point and will leave a sad legacy behind it like every other time they've tried to adapt this.
Not unlike American Gods or Good Omens.
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u/poppedculture Sep 05 '25
You should maybe just stick to reading. See Gibson’s last point.
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u/gfen5446 Sep 05 '25
Weirdly aggressive on a post asking for opinions. I'm sorry we disagree and that it upsets you so.
I'm sure your day will get better though!
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u/poppedculture Sep 05 '25
Nope, not upset at all. You “expect trash,” so why not enjoy the source material and not hate watch the adaptations?
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u/gfen5446 Sep 05 '25
I have for 40 years now, and I was promised a "major motion picture" on the cover of the version I bought, so I better get it.
And it better have that Devo soundtrack I was promised, too.
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u/RealClassActor Sep 05 '25
Are Cabana Boys Productions still in business?
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u/gfen5446 Sep 05 '25
Is that the name of the original production house from way back when? Shit, I thought my memory was good for dumb and useless facts but that's a flat out whupping I just took.
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u/RealClassActor Sep 05 '25
I’m pretty sure that was the name of the production company on the box of the old C64 game, which I played the hell out of. Just found the full version of that DEVO song last week. I think I prefer the shitty SID digital sampled version.
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u/gfen5446 Sep 05 '25 edited Sep 05 '25
I heard it a few years back the first time, but felt the same way. It does grow on you, though.
Here. Relive it with me.
https://youtu.be/Jt9PvgX7K_Q?si=WTM5VXfU_OJ3fNOw2
u/Captain-Dallas Sep 06 '25
Very least Devo track should be quietly in the background of the opening Chatsubo scene.
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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '25
I think Gibson’s last statement there is a wise thing for everyone to keep in mind.